Gundam Seed: Redemption
by Awinterchill
Summary: Set 16 years after GSD - As the world is once again torn in two Lacus Clyne must flee the PLANTs with her family. Young Yaro Yamato finds himself in a struggle against himself as he watches his world fall apart and the people he cares about die. As unrest looms around the world the Yamato family the Zala family face heartache and the horrors of war again. Full Summary inside.
1. Prologue

**Special thanks to Capt Freedom who read through and made some minor changes to the errors in this chapter!  
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**Sadly my original was lost but this one still explains the setting we are in.**

**The story you are about to read is an epic adventure that I spent a year designing, working and planning. I started it based on on little question I had and on one character I created based on my own struggles to deal with other people's expectations of me. I decided not to write it until I had a plot that was both exciting and surprising. The work I have put into this is probably a little extreme since it is only a fan fiction but I have enjoyed working on it and I hope to finish it by the end of next year! So read on and don't get shut off by the first few chapters it's a little slow in the beginning but I promise you that exciting things are ahead!  
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**_We all have memories that haunt us_

_We all have pain in our hearts_

_Please promise me when you look back_

_You'll remember me_

_That girl you loved but also hated_

_A memory that seeks Redemption_

Cosmic Era: 89

In the aftermath of the second bloody Valentine war there was peace, a peace that many thought was every lasting. This peace was forged by Lacus Clyne and Cagalli Yula Attha fifteen years ago .

After the events of the second Bloody Valentine war Cagalli and Athrun spent a lot of time together trying to rebuild the strength of ORB and it's military and they soon found themselves in love all over again. Athrun asked Cagalli to marry him and nine months after their wedding she gave brith to a beautiful baby boy whom they named Uzumi Zala. A year after that Lacus Clyne gave birth to twins Leyas and Kiran Yamato. Kira and Lacus had just gone through a rough time in their relationship because of an incident of terrorists in Gibaltar and Lacus's growing political career. But they made it through the hard times and got married. After their wedding they adopted a young coordinator boy named Yaro Riague from Reverend Malchio's orphanage.

The peace they were in seemed unbreakable but there was a shadow over the land. John Liene, a man scarred by a past of loss and pain had worked in the shadows since the first bloody valentine war seeking to reorganize the world. He founded an organization called ROW and began to work on his plan. Using two children as experiments he began to create two perfect warriors. His plan was soon thwarted by one of his own and in a flurry of an incident in Gibraltar one of Liene's prized experiments was stolen. This did not stop him as he nurtured and raised the other child for the purpose of fulfilling his plan. ROW then began to work inside of nations stirring up unrest and creating civil wars. They then brought in the "answer" aiding both sides of each nation and gradually taking territory all in the name of peace. Many nations called to the PLANTs and to Lacus Clyne for help as their worlds shattered but as many of the council members and citizens thought that any military intervention would surely lead to more anti coordinator conflict she found herself unable to help any of the nations. This caused much pain and suffering.

Lacus Clyne has now been going through quite a bit in the PLANTs. The elections are coming up fast and there are many saying that she was becoming to weak for the world. The PLANTs were attacked a month before these elections and they were only saved by the efforts of the Tranquility and its mobile suit escort team which was in the PLANTs at the time for a political summit. As all of this went on Kira Yamato was completely unaware. He had received information months before the battle that led him to believe there was an abandoned ROW outpost on Mars. Thinking that this would lead him to more answers Kira quickly consulted with Lacus and then left the PLANTs in his ship the Liberty with her blessing. Now as Jayley Lired, Lacus's main opponent, wins over more people every day Lacus knows the time of peace is over and that she will soon be made a fugitive once again.

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New Characters

**Yaro Yamato **(18) - The adopted son of Kira and Lacus. Yaro has no idea of his past. Yaro is a very strong athletic boy who has been kept away from the battlefield all his life. He met Lacus at the orphanage while she was pregnant with twins and the light she saw in him strengthend her. She then adopted him though she had two twins to take care of because she had grown very protective of him. He has dark hair and deep aqua blue eyes.**  
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**Uzumi Zala **(15) - Cagalli and Athrun's oldest son. He is strong like his father and is able to present himself perfectly. Underneath his strenght there is a softness that comes from his mother. Uzumi has dark blue hair like his fathers but he prefers to keep it close cut to his head and he has the goden eyes of his mother.**  
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**Meiko Virea **(18) - Meiko is an agent of ROW and has been for her entire life. She was given to ROW as a baby and has no idea where she really comes from. She used to fight for ROW without question but recently she has begun to feel the weight and pain of everything. She has dark long red hair and ashy violet eyes.**  
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**Trey Likra Day **(19) - Trey is another agent of ROW who is unhappy with their meathods. He stays with ROW because he cares for Meiko like a sister and doesn't want anything bad to happen to her.**  
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**Leyas Yamato **(14) - Leyas is called little Kira by Athrun as she looks a lot like Kira. She has his brunette hair and violet eyes and a lot of his personality. She is also a singer in the PLANTs like her mother before her. She plays the piano and writes all her own material. She is Kiran Yamato's twin.**  
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**Kiran Yamato **(14) - Kiran has blonde hair and blue eyes that match his mothers. He is the most talented programmer in the family and his personality is a lot like Lacus's. He is more playful than his siblings and prefers to smile rather than to look serious.**  
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**Kayla Yamato **(9) - Kayla is the younest in the family but she is the light of them all**.** She is the wisest of the children and understands a lot more about things than she lets on. She has her mothers pink hair but her eyes are lime green.**  
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**Jeffery Zala **(12) - Jeffery Zala is Cagalli and Athrun's youngest son. He is more rambunctious and loud much like his mother was in her younger years. He often sits in his older brothers shadow but he does not mind. He is a brunette and his eyes are emrald colored like his father.**  
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**Jurme Krey** (19) - Another ROW agent who was trained with Meiko**  
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**Milady Redemption - **leader of the anti ROW organization known as Redemption. Not much is known about her.**  
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**Jacob Gladys **(19) - Talia Glady's son, adopted by Murrue Ramuis and Mu La Flaga

**Jayley Lired** - A younger candidate for PLANT sumreme Chairwoman. She has been a member of the PLANT council for three years and has gained popultarity from the media. She claims to spread the truth about Lacus Clyne when all her accusations are lies.**  
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**John Liene **- The leader of ROW**  
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Returning Characters

**Lacus Clyne**

**Kira Yamato**

**Athrun Zala**

**Cagalli Yula Attha**

**Shinn Auska**

**Lunamaria Hawke**

**Meyrin Hawke**

**Dearka Elsman**

**Yzak Joule**

**Mirriallia Haw**

**Murrue Ramuis**

**Mu La Flaga**

**Andrew Waltfeld**

**Shiho Haussenfaus**


	2. Blasting Into Space

**Phase 1: Blasting Into Space**

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CE 89

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"Lacus Clyne has repeatedly ignored the problems on earth and denied our good allies the aid they require to fight ROW. If that is not sympathy to these radicals who would deem coordinators as demons then I don't know what is. She has turned a blind eye to the point where her own home PLANT would have been destroyed if ORB had not stepped in." 18 year old Yaro Yamato watched the television as his adopted mother was repeatedly slapped by Jaley Lired. "her husband Kira Yamato is also an traitor to our government! His history shows that he fought against our military in the first valentine war and sided with blue cosmos! He should have been arrested and made to pay for his crimes yet he is 'serving' our government."

"These are heavy charges made against our leaders," the interviewer said causing Yaro to grit his teeth and glare at the scree. These attacks had been non stop for the past few months and now people were starting to believe them.

"The facts are all there," Jaley said, "He was also a pilot for the earth alliance during the first bloody valentine war. If you remember correctly that administration was entirely led by blue cosmos." Yaro immediately thought of a million ways he could answer her statement and he wished he could debate with Jaley.

"Why are you watching that crap," Yaro turned to see his younger sister Leyas enter the room. The 14 year old was a star child singer in the plants but since the recent outcry's against her mother during the campaign Leyas's album sales had been steadily declining.

"Well," Yaro tried to think of a reason, "it was on and I thought I'd see if Jaley has thought of any new lies to spread." He turned off the television and turned to his younger sister. There really was no point in continuing watching it, Jaley's lies just made him sick. The election still had not taken place but people were already beginning to hail Jaley as their leader. All of this was just because she had the media on her side and together they could control the minds of the people.

"Mother told me to tell you to get ready," Leyas said, "things are starting to heat up a little too rapidly." Leyas slowly walked to the couch and sat down next to him. "This place will no longer be home'" the young girl sighed.

"It's time?" Yaro asked his younger sister, "father still hasn't returned."

"We can no longer wait," the two turned to see their mother standing in the doorway of the room, "we have to go now."

"Now?" Leyas repeated the last word standing up abruptly.

"I've just received intelligence that the people have rise up and the government has taken action," Lacus said sadly looking out of the large window of the room, "mobile suit forces and officers are on their way here as we speak."

"What about Uzumi?" Yaro asked. Their cousin Uzumi Zala had been sent by his father to visit a couple weeks before from ORB. Uzumi had been most excited about seeing his cousins and he always loved going to the PLANTs but he knew his father had other reasons for sending him.

"He is going with us," Lacus said, "he went to collect his stuff." Lacus then beckoned for the the children to get up. "Jaley is sparing no time. I won't be able to refute her claims at this rate." The two children walked toward the door and Lacus placed a hand on each of their shoulders "we are heading to ORB, you have ten minutes. Bring only what you think you need."

Yaro frowned. This world was heading into turmoil and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

* * *

Yaro and Uzumi hurried to pack their stuff while Kiran sat down with his own pack next to him. Kiran had a sixth sense about these sort of things largely due to his computer skills and he had packed a few days before. Yaro and Uzumi thought they at least had a week but they had been wrong.

"I can't believe people are just turning against my mother," Yaro said, "she's only ever served the country with dignity and honor."

"We can't blame them Yaro," Uzumi replied, "they are deceived." Yaro shook his head at Uzumi; he was fifteen yet he never let himself say anything untrue. Somehow he had always understood what had happening around him and had offered his friends advice based on it

"You're right," Yaro replied to him, "but I still think its not fair." Their conversation was stopped by a blast which shook the house. Yaro looked toward Uzumi and they both understood, the ZAFT police had arrived.

"They're here," Kiran said looking up from the ground he had been staring at.

"Aunt Lacus was right about the timing," Uzumi sighed, "its only been 11 minutes."

"That's because she got her timing and intelligence from me," Kiran sighed, "though I wish I'd been wrong." Kiran stood up and grabbed his pack.

"So to ORB," Yaro said with a laugh, "only we're probably not going to get out this easily."

"Most likely not," Kiran agreed with his older brother.

"Come along boys," they looked to the doorway to see Andrew Watlfeld, one of the leaders of the Clyne faction during both bloody Valentine wars. "It looks like I brought along my force just in time." Yaro looked out the window to see several mobile suits surrounding the house to protect it.

"A battle within the PLANTs?" Yaro questioned with surprise.

"No," Waltfeld replied, "a protection. Our mobile suits have been ordered not to cause any damage to the PLANT. Now we have to hurry."

* * *

"Lacus Clyne must be arrested alive," Commander Grettan said. He was one of Jaley Lired's oldest friends and now he understood the cruciality of the situation.

"Yes," Jaley replied, "If she does escape the plants I have made arrangements to see that she is dealt with properly. But I would much desire that you captured her right here and now, I don't want any unnecessary problems."

"It will be done my lady." Grettan looked toward the mansion turning off his com link device. Lired had presented her evidence to the ZAFT Supreme Council earlier that day; most of the evidence against her was fake but the gullible politicians had believed it and ordered Lacus to be arrested. Gettan watched in satisfaction as his mobile suits moved on the ones surrounding the leaders mansion.

He looked toward the sky and knew that should Lacus elude them something was waiting outside for them. He knew Jaley well enough to know she'd make sure of that.

* * *

Another blast shook the house as Lacus, along with a few loyal soliders, led the children through the secret passageway in the house. Yaro looked around in fear as he saw all those whom he held dear.

"Remember to make our exit quickly so as to avoid detection," Lacus said to Commander Waltfelt.

"Of course," He replied, "I only wish we could have contacted Kira before all this."

"It's better that we don't," Lacus replied, "he is without proper means to protect himself if they trace where he is. The Strike Freedom is sitll abord the Eternal."

"You know something will be waiting for us, this isn't going to be easy." Lacus eyes filled with sadness as she though about what she was being forced to do; once again war was going to sweep the world.

"Do we have any more moblie suit pilots with us besides Dearka?" she asked. Commander Waltfelt swore and punched the wall nearest to him.

"They're all out there," he said regaining his composure.

"We'll think of something," Lacus responded. Kiran looked up from the ground after Lacus said it.

"We have enough strength to make it mother," Kiran said, "if that strength is used properly." Lacus looked at her younger son who seemed very anxious with their situation.

The group came out of the tunnel into a large hanger. There in front of them was Lacus Clyne's pink ship the Eternal which had gone through many upgrades in the past months making it one of the most superior ships in the PLANTs. The crew members were rushing about with last minute preparations. Dearka Elseman ran up to meet the group.

"We'll be ready to launch in 2 minutes," he said with a cool expression. As a war veteran Dearka was an expert at handling these situations.

The group rushed aboard the ship, Lacus led Kayla to a room and told her stay there with Uzumi. The Twins, Kiran and Leyas, both had jobs on the bridge and they stayed behind Lacus as she prepared to head for the bridge. Yaro had been assigned to work with the mobile suit repair crews should they have need of them but for now he could sit back with Uzumi and Kayla but he didn't really feel comfortable with that.

"Mother," Yaro said, "what if there are more soldiers and we need more mobile suits?"

"I don't know Yaro," her concern was evident, "just hope we have a favorable exit." The ship began to lift off from the dock.

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Ashy violet eyes stared out the glass in front of them. Her world was something that people had always controlled. Never had a decision she made been her own. She stared into the blackness of space apathetically as she had for the past eighteen years. In her life the stars had always shone for someone other than herself. She had no clue who she was or what she was. She was smothered in an environment where she was not even human and she wondered why. She put a hand up to the glass as traced the stars that were so beautifully laced into the vacuum of space. Meiko breathed a sigh and turned around knowing that as long as the lonely stars had the strength and light there was still hope left in her life. It was this simple hope that had kept her alive for she knew that there must be something greater out there.

"Meiko Virea, Please report to the mobile suit bay," a voice rang throughout the ship. She turned to another window to see a pink ship blasting from the plants. It was time now. The orders she had was to destroy that ship's defenses and force it to surrender and if that fails destroy the ship entirely. As she ran through the ship with her red hair streaming behind her she thought of her life. What justified destroying this ship? What had they done? Though Meiko didn't understand she was powerless to disobey her orders.

She arrived at the mobile suit bay and walked toward her black and blue suit. It was called the Pain and it was up to her to inflict it. As she was about to board it she heard a voice behind her.

"Its alright," it said, "I'll be out there with you." She turned to see her good friend Trey Likra Day standing behind her. He was her always her companion in training and he encouraged her hope of the future.

"I'm not worried about anything except why we're doing this?" She stated simply.

"The ship is full of traitors to the plants and we're being paid off to drive them back into the plants," he responded, "pretty crooked." Both of them immediately thought of ROW's anti-coordinator views.

Meiko boarded her mobile suit and switched it on. She looked down at her ROW pilots uniform. If her superiors were being paid to help the coordinators she had no choice but to obey her commands. She bowed her head as the mobile suit began to power up, before every battle she dispelled everything from her mind but her objective. Somehow her mind would not readily obey her commands this time around, images flooded it as her mobile suit neared the launch pad. A feeling stirred through her bones as if fate were at work. Familiarity rocked through her as her dreams began to stream through her mind disrupting her concentration. She angrily lifted her head, today was not her day for battles yet she had to get out there. Her mobile suit was launched into space.

* * *

"We're exiting the plants," Lacus said to the crew, "Stay cautious and set out course for ORB on the earth."

"Captain!," Lacus turned to one of the concerned soldiers, "We're undermanned, we need more help, more pilots!"

"There's a ship approaching," Waltfeld said turning to Lacus, "its unidentified but I'm willing to bet they are going to send out mobile suits"

"Have Dearka board his machine and standby," Lacus replied, "prepare the weapons, and prepare to intercept missiles. We have to make it through this not jsut for our lives but for the lives of so many others who will die if another war breaks out!"

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Yaro held his breath as the ships emergency lights began to flash. He toward Kayla who was holding their mothers pink haro; when Kayla was nervous she often reprogrammed the haro as a way to keep herself occupied. Uzumi stood up and walked toward a nearby window looking out to space, neither voiced their concern. A crew member had confirmed to them that there were not enough mobile suit pilots on board and it was certain that something may happen.

"How do you think they are going to handle this?" Yaro asked his cousin who looked deep in thought.

"I just know that we need to trust them," Uzumi replied with faith in his voice, "my father use to tell me stories of how Aunt Lacus was a war vetran and how she could get herself out of sticky situations with little problem."

"But she usually had daddy there as well," Kayla said floating through the room, "without daddy, things aren't so great."

"No," Uzumi said, "there are three more mobile suits in the bay. I know one of them is for Kira but the other two..."

"The gundams?" Yaro asked.

"Yes," Uzumi said looking toward the door, "the gundams are our only hope if Dearka fails to fight off all our enemies."

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Leyas focused on her job trying to remember which buttons to push when commands were called. She watched as screen after screen beeped. The battle had barely begun, the ship hung back and didn't bother to engage them. The only thing they were all certain about is that the ship was not from the PLANTs or ZAFT.

"Two mobile suites have launched from the unknown craft and are heading this way," commander Waltfeld said. Leyas quickly worked to match the thremal patterns of the suit.

"I'm getting a visual now," Leyas said placing it on the screen, "they don't match any thermal patterns." The entire crew turned their eyes toward the screen in the front of the bridge as the visual appeared.

"What!" Lacus said in alarm standing up at the sight of the brightly colored mobile suits.

"It can't be!" Leyas said.

"Gundams," Kiran glared.

"Order Dearka to launch," Waltfeld yelled.

"Rodger," Kiran said, "Commander Elseman, you have permission to launch."

"Dearka Elseman, we'll make it through this," Dearka's voice rang on the bridge.

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Meiko closed her eyes as her mobile suit floated closer and closer to the ship.

"Why am I doing this," she whispered, "for the memory of my mother and for the freedom of this world? Or is it I fight for my own gain?"

"We fight because we have no choice," Trey said looking up from his own controls.

"No choice," they said together. The statement sounded wrong to both of them.

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**Please Review! I might update faster if I get more reviews. **

**A note about this story - it is most assuredly going to be split into two stories. There will be a time jump in between them and the plot lines they will both span are subject to change. This is my version of what happened after Destiny and if I don't get all the details of the past right, Oh well; it is fan fiction. I would appriciate constructive criticism. I am not that good with mecha so it is up to you the readers to envision the gundams; I know their colors and that is it. I'll try to give a description of them at the end of next chapter!**

**Updates may be slow due to me anxiously awaiting the end of Gundam 00's second season! I am a Seed fan to the core but Gundam 00 has really captured my attention and this season has been quite a good ride! If anyone else who reads this is watching it then you understand!  
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**Again please review!**


	3. Yaro's Decision

**Phase 2: Yaro's Decision**

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Meiko dogged a stream missiles and beams coming from the ship as she got in position to fire back. Trey was engaged in battle against the lone mobile suit which had issued from the ship, it was a custom version of one of ZAFTs standard military suits.

"Fools," she said out loud maneuvering her mobile suit about the pink ship and targeting one of the missile launchers. It was easily blow to pieces as she flew away from the explosion. This would be much easier than she though. Guilt stung her as she thought of the lives that she was taking through these actions, she shook it off and started another attack pattern. As she approached the ship, the strange feeling in her head returned and her focus was momentarily thrown off.

Her suit then was launched forward from a hit by a missile. She cursed herself for being distracted when she saw that it had come from the enemy mobile suit which had broken away from Trey's control.

"Watch out Meiko," she heard Trey yell to her intercom. She easily controlled her mobile suit to dodge the next wave missiles coming from the suit. She had done this so many times it should have been like clockwork to her but a feeling kept attacking her mind every time she got close to the Eternal.

"Watch your own back," Meiko replied to Trey with a slightly hostile tone. Her eyes filled with deadly anger as she launched a full blown attack at the mobile suit. She would succeed where Trey had failed. Meiko fought the feeling in her mind focusing all her will on destroying the suit. The poor mobile suit could not control itself against her onslaught and retreated behind the cannons of its mother ship. Meiko then was forced to back off and defend herself against another onslaught of blasts from the ship. These people were no amateurs at anti mobile suit battle, she was forced to momentarily retreated out of range.

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Dearka cursed as he received a heavy layout of blows from the green Gundam. He flipped trying to control his suit but the pilot was just to enraged. Warning lights blinked around him and he realized he needed to retreat.

"Dearka," Kiran's voice echoed in his cockpit, "you have to fall back."

"I know," he said angrily. Suddenly an explosion from one of his weapons entered the suit and fire flashed around him. He cried out as the suit began to give way around him. He quickly moved his suit behind the protection of the ships guns. He breathed heavily. There was no way he could continue, but the Eternal could not fail!

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"Commander Elsman's suit has been heavily damaged," Leyas yelled to the bridge crew, "he's preparing to re-enter." Leyas then looked down and smiled when she saw that she had accidentally broadcasted that message to the entire ship.

"Tell the damage crew to prepare to help him," Lacus replied, "then tell him to take The Visage out." Waltfeld looked at her in shock.

"The Visage has an entire new interface Lacus," he said, "it hasn't been tested yet." Everyone on the bridge was also shocked, the Visage was one of the Clyne factions new Gundam types that was built for Lacus's escape but in the rush to get it done it had not been tested. To take the suit out against two fully functional mobile suits was risky.

"Commander Elsman has been wounded," Leyas said with fear in her voice, "he can't take any thing else out." Leyas laid her hand on the button that would broadcast the message throughout the entire ship on purpose this time. She knew that Uzumi had had full mobile suit training from his father in ORG and she hoped that it would prompt him to go out. She also knew that her father Kira had secretly done some training with Yaro but she hoped he would have the sense to stay as backup for later. Lacus had wished to keep her children away from weapons so no one had told her about Yaro's ability.

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Yaro stood up as he heard Leyas's voice across the intercom saying that the ships only mobile suit pilot was wounded. Uzumi looked at him Yaro shook his head at his cousin and they both left the room in a hurry in order to discuss things without Kayla listening. Kayla just ignored their leaving because she knew exactly what they were going to talk about and she also knew exactly what she had to do.

"I am going," Yaro said, "I don't know if I'm the best out of us two but I know I can't just sit here."

"Then I'm going to," Uzumi said.

"No," Yaro replied, "look after Kayla, I don't know if we will make it but its best if you stay here unless things start looking really bad." Uzumi knew better than to argue with his cousin, Yaro was stubborn and when he made his mind up there was no fighting it.

Yaro ran out of the room toward the mobile suit bay. He snuck into the uniform room for a pilots suit first. In the mobile suit bay he saw one suit in the launcher and knew that it was the only one ready for the battle.

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"Mother," Lacus looked toward Kiran but was interrupted by Leyas's frantic voice.

"Kayla says that Yaro took off to the mobile suit bay," Leyas said, though Kayla was the youngest of the family she was not dumb. She knew how to get in contact with Leyas and hurried to re-route an intercom to contact her older sister as soon as Uzumi had returned without Yaro. Kayla had done it so quickly that Uzumi didn't know what she was doing.

"What!" Lacus responded.

"Its been confirmed by the ground crew who say that he is in the Visage and trying to activate the launch code! He'll get it to mother, he's very smart," Kiran said frantically. Leyas looked at her mother.

"Get him on the line," Lacus said grabbing for the communicator from her daughter.

"That kid has guts," Waltfled said, "those two gundams out there are giving us trouble. What will we do if the ship tries to come in."

"What are our changes," Kiran asked the commander.

"I don't know but we need a miracle now!" he replied.

"Yaro!," Lacus yelled into the microphone, "Yaro listen to me! Get out of that suit! Come to the bridge and do something to help here!"

"Mother," Yaro replied, "I can handle this. Now we need someone out there."

"You've never been trained," Lacus said with tears in her eyes, "and that suit has never been tested."

"Mother," he said, "I can handle this. Father trained me as much as he could a few days before he left and he said that he never had formal mobile suit training when he first fought either." Lacus looked at Commander Waltfeld.

"Let the kid try it, if Kira's told him anything he can handle it." Lacus handed the communicator back to Leyas, wiped the tears from her eyes and sat back in the Captains seat.

"Father said that Yaro had a natural ability," Kiran said looking up from his screen, "dad wouldn't just say that for no reason."

"Tell Yaro and The Visage to launch," Lacus said to Leyas, "hurry, before I change my mind."

Lacus then turned to Waltfeld, "if anything horrible looks like it is going to happen what do you suggest we do?"

"If it looks that bad, I'll go out myself. I know that I'm getting along in years but I'm a coordinator not some old grandpa."

* * *

Meiko maneuver toward the ship again. There was so much firepower coming from it that she has sure they had planned for this attack weeks before. Anger surged through her as her mind once again broke from its perfect focus.

"Meiko whats the status on that ship," her superior officer, Captain Gilligan appeared on the screen.

"I can't get past how much fire power is coming from it." she replied between maneuvers, "I mean I have destroyed some of its guns and Trey has as well. We would have had it under control by now but the ship won't turn back. They seem to want to die rather than to give up!"

"We've received new orders, now we just need to occupy it until the fleet gets here," the commander said, "once the Plant fleet arrives then we will flee." Meiko didn't want to get involved with any PLANT fleet, her superior officers had always told her that coordinators were a evil race. This had puzzled her when they had chosen to come out and help the plants in this instance.

"Trey," she said, "take the left side, I'll take the right. Force them to split their fire power then go under and finally back up through the middle." Her plan seemed bright to Trey but he knew that they wouldn't out smart this vetran ship so easily.

Meiko traveled down the right forcing the gun to change their position downward. Her thrust carried her back to the top of the ship where, along with Trey, she laid down some heavy firepower on the main guns.

Meiko sped away from the ship as it regained its further status and turned to survey its damage. The tough ship had taken significant damage yet it was still forcing its way toward space. She was about to charge the ship when Trey sent her a message.

"Watch out," he quickly said, "they're launching a mobile suit." Meiko did not turn in time to face the suit as she had to fight another familiar feeling from her mind. It out maneuvered her and shot a missile straight at her thrust.

"AHHH," She yelled trying to rebalanced herself but the back of her suit was to damaged to continue fighting. Anger swept through her; Who was this guy?

* * *

Yaro regained his composure after the shot. His main point was to do as his mother always commanded, disable them not destroy them. He turned to face the second gundam and found himself with a handful. This person had obviously been trained to handle his suit very well. Yaro went behind the cannons of the Eternal and decided to target him from there. He did not understand everything about how the biggest cannon of his Gundam worked but he hoped they would do something. He worked with the system and cameras of the mobile suit in order to make sure his targeting would end up accurate.

Yaro traced the most likely path the suit before him was going to take and shot his cannons at the jets of the suit. The firepower was way more than he had anticipated. It missed the suit, which maneuvered expertly away, and kept going until it hit the ship that was sitting in the distance waiting for the mobile suits to finish their battle.

Yaro sat stunned at what that single shot had done.

"Hey kid," he heard commander Waltfeld's voice over the intercom, "that cannon was built to take out ships not mobile suits! Only use the stuff you understand!"

"I'm sorry," Yaro replied, "but the system of this suit is all weird."

"Its a more effective system but its harder to operate." Yaro saw that the suit he had shot earlier was using a backup jet to return to its mother ship, probably for repairs. "Kid watch out," he hear the commander's voice on the line as he saw the other mobile suit was behind him on the scanners. He gripped the controls yelling not realizing how powerful they really were. He flipped away from the ship and into an empty area of space but he had avoided the other mobile suits fire.

"I'm alright," he told the ship quickly as he searched for the mobile suit. He saw it approaching him with its sword. He quickly scanned his weapon options and saw that aside from a few different guns in his pack he had one beam sword. He pulled it out and met the mobile suits attack. He dogged the suit for the most part; the pilot was obviously so much better than him.

He then saw shots coming from behind the mobile suit. It was the eternal. The other mobile suit was hit by the blast and its arm was severed off.

"Kid, get back behind our fire," Yaro heard the commander's voice over the line, "we're going to try and damage the mother ship and move past them. A ZAFT fleet is on its way! If we don't act now it will be to late." Yaro quickly obeyed and fell behind the ships line of fire and began to shoot at the mobile suit from there.

"Should I use the cannon again on the ship?" he asked quickly.

"Only aim for the engines," he heard Lacus say over the line, "we don't want any death on our part." Yaro obeyed and worked to adjust the parameters of where his blast would end up.

* * *

"Trey return to the ship," he hear his commander's voice over the line.

"But I can beat these guys!" he protested.

"Meiko's suit has been damaged heavily and the ship is making straight headway toward us," the voice continued. "We need you to get back here now for defense!" Trey obeyed as he saw the Eternal heading toward The Prejudice.

"How the heck have they already driven us back?" he asked himself. The other mobile suit pilot was really no match for them yet they were being forced to retreat. "Headquarters didn't say anything about facing other gundams," he kept mumbling to himself.

* * *

"Meiko," she got out of her gundam to be met by one of the ship's chief engineers. She rolled her eyes at him as he approached her, "the commander wants you to repair your machine; he gave us strict orders to stay away from it."

"Yeah, yeah," she said bitterly, "I know that." She began to float away from the engineer.

"You know if you get it done fast you might be able to go out and try to beat that guy," the man continued. Meiko was kinda angry about being put of a battle so quickly; she had been trained for many years to handle mobile suits and the person who had come out obviously wasn't that good.

"I get it," she said yelling at the guy and glaring. She then walked to her quarters in frustration. Blasts rocked the ship and soon Trey was running down the halls looking for her.

"Meiko," he yelled grabbing her arm, "the ship escaped."

"That guy got you to?" Meiko asked.

"No I was low on power and the ship began to bear directly on me," he said sadly, "but though we lost we can still be glad we're alive." Meiko was tempted to laugh at the irony of what he said; their lives consisted of destroying their enemies, Meiko herself felt more dead than alive.

"If this is what you call living." the remark escaped her lips before she could control it.

"Meiko..."

"Look it doesn't matter," she protested his admonishing. Trey was always a hopeful person and he believed that maybe if they kept obeying orders then a peaceful world would return. Meiko herself believed that to a certain extent but she was never as optimistic about it as him. "This world is in pieces, and I really don't think that we will survive through this new war." Meiko didn't even understand why she wanted to survive through it. What did she have to look forward to? She had nothing, no family, no past, and no future; the only thing she had was the good friend before her.

**

* * *

**

**Mobile Suits:**

**The Pain**

_Class: ROW Assault Gundam_

_Pilot: Meiko Virea_

_ID: WSB-000367_

_Specialty: The Pain was developed to fit the close fighting style of Meiko Virea._

_Appearance: Looks like the strike in in Aile mode except for the two guns attaced to the back piece. The Pain is also has a green and black color scheme fitting Meiko's sometimes dual personality._

_Weapons: Two beam sabers located in the hips. Two assult guns located on the back. 1 sheild located on the right arm. The left arm can fold over revealing a third beam saber it she needs it or she can shoot beams from it._

**The Hatred**

_Class: ROW Assault Gundam_

_Pilot: Trey Likra Day_

_ID: WSB-000271_

_Specialty: Was designed for all around use against ships and mobile suits._

_Appearance: Standard gundam appearance but with a very large back peice, kinda like the Legend or the Providence. Color Scheme is Red and black._

_Weapons: His back piece is a large cannon that he can mauever around the back of his suit. He has one beam saber located in his shield arm. His left arm holds an assault gun._

**The Visage**

_Class: Clyne Faction Gundam series 83_

_Pilot: Yaro Yamato_

_ID: 2531LC_

_Specialty: Built for anti-ship fighting as well as close mobile suit fighting. The Visage was designed to go from one thing to another quickly making it very versatile._

_Appearance and weapons: Looks like Impulse with sword striker except that its back pack holds a large rifle and a buster like cannon. The suit can hold two beam sabers, one in the right hip and one in the shield arm but it mostly carries one. Other arm has a few built in guns as well as a flamethrower._

**Ginn Series 10 Custom**

_Class: ZAFT Ginn CE: 83_

_Pilot: Dearka Elseman_

_ID: ZFGN54827_

_Specialty: The new ginns were built for anti mobile suit combat. Dearka's custom includes a whip and a few extra guns._

_Apperance: Looks like a ginn except for the new coloring and weapon design. These mobile suits are mostly red with some yellow in random places._

_Weapons: 1 whip, two conversation cannon arms. Two beam laced knifes inside shield arm and a rifle located on the back._

_**

* * *

**_

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Please comment and tell me what you think! There is still a Gundam to be revealed. Next chapter well include some old friends!**


	4. Taking Action

**Phase 3: Taking Action  
**

"The latest news from the Plants. The former Chairwoman of the Plants Supreme council Lacus Clyne has been declared an enemy of the Plants," the PLANT newscaster said, "she was to be brought into custody as of yesterday but she has evaded PLANT security and escaped into space. The new PLANT supreme council Chairwoman Jaley Lired has put out a reward for the arrest of Lacus Clyne and declares that no one should harbor this terrorist. If she is caught she will be tried for her crimes under her own laws. Another arrest warrent has been issued for her husband, Kira Yamato, whom has been missing for almost a month; it is believed that Lacus Clyne has kept his wearabouts a secret in order to hide unknown crimes from the council." Emerald eyes glared at the TV screen as two people who have only ever worked for peace were being slammed with suspicision.

"In other news the nations of the world are cheering for the election of Jaley Lired as PLANT Chairwoman. Perhaps now the aid to fight ROW will be given to the nations of the world..." Athrun Zala got up from his chair and turned off the television while sighing. How Lacus could be declared a terrorist he did not know; it seemed that now the world was doomed to plunge back into a battle between coordinators and naturals. With the earth in such turmiol from ROW he was no longer sure what was really happening around him. Yes the world was heading back down an unforgiving path he though as he walked toward the widow.

"Are you all right Athrun?" he turned to see his beautiful wife Cagalli standing in the doorway of the room. Her blonde hair hung down around her face as her golden eyes were illuminated from the slight ways of sunlight peaking over the hills. It was very early and the sun would not be up for another hour; at the same time the sun of peace had set and the terrible night had begun.

"I was just watching the news from the PLANTs," he said with a frustrated tone in his voice and he turned back to the window. Cagalli walked silently toward where he was standing and placed her hand on his shoulder. He looked into her eyes and saw that they were filled with tears and his own pain in the events began to stir within him. He embraced her and she clung to him letting a few tears fall; though neither said it both thought of their older son Uzumi whom they knew was with the Eternal at this time.

"Its going to be alright," Cagalli finally said breaking the silence, "somehow I jut know it has to be." He let go of her and looked into her perfect golden eyes and she wiped a few tears away from them.

"It has to be alright," he said with assurance, "we have each other still and Uzumi will come home to us." Cagalli shook her head wiping the tears from her eyes. They only had two children, Uzumi and Jeffery unlike Kira and Lacus who adopted one then had three to make a total of four.

"Have you been able to get a hold of them?" Cagalli asked, "do you know where they are?"

"No," Athrun said turning away again, "they have been avoiding communication; probably so that the PLANT radars don't pick up anything unusual."

"Do you think they'll head here?" Cagalli asked.

"Yes," Athrun replied walking over to his computer and pulling up some data on the screen, "Uzumi and Yaro sent this to me a few weeks ago with the help of Kiran; the Eternal has been upgraded to enter earths atmosphere and to be more like the Archangel in its ability to sail on the water and to travel better on the earth. Its almost certain that after leaving the plants they would follow the path of a satellite for a short while and then descend to ORB. However if they do not take the calculated path then they will head for a hidden factory held by the Clyne faction for refuge until they can make the descent." Athrun then stood up and faced Cagalli.

"Has the PLANT council released any information about their status?" Cagalli asked.

"All that has been released is that they have escaped," Athrun responded, "I don't think they have a fix on where they are. Lacus would have Kiran send us a coded message if they were in extreme danger."

"Honestly, how good do you think their chances are?" she asked. Athrun stood up and walked toward the window again. "Athrun?" she said his name again staying by the computer.

"If they are not followed they'll make it," he said, "however if they are followed then they only have one mobile suit pilot, unless Uzumi tells them what he can do in a mobile suit. In the situation of being followed by the PLANT fleet..."

"What?"

"They'll be captured or killed." the five words hung between them as if it were their lives being threatened. In a small way though they were; if Lacus's ship was captured Uzumi would be captured and Jaley would immediatley cast blame on ORB.

"Then we have to make a move Athrun," Cagalli responded sitting down at the computer, "we have to send aid."

"How?" Athrun responded following her, "sending the Tranquility would make ORB an enemy of the PLANTs, there is no way to send aid." The Tranquility which had rescued the PLANTs from a huge attack from ROW a month before. Cagalli had acted as captain in Athrun's place during the battle while he used The Infinite Justice to defend the PLANTs.

"We aren't sending the tranquility, I can't go anywhere with the world in such a horrendous state but you can. You are not only part of the ORB military but as a part of the Clyne Faction you must go." She was still typing and Athrun saw what she was calling over a secret communications channel. A ship that had been hidden beautifully for many years and a crew that had served ORB on the Tranquility and in many other ways. Cagalli had kept this project a secret from almost everyone. This ship had been re-created to be able to leave the planet without the help of a mass driver for emergency's. Now they would have to take up arms in a vessel that had not been seen since the second bloody valentine war.

"The Minerva!" he exclaimed.

"This is a battle that must be fought," Cagalli said opening up the channel, "For the Destiny of the world a battle will be fought; Recive your orders power of the past." The coded words had been spoken and a great power had been awoken.

* * *

Shinn Auska had gone through a lot in his life already. If it weren't for Athrun and his friend Kira a whole lot more might have happened because of him. Since the second bloody valentine war he had joined forces with the two fighters of freedom and justice but he had kept a very low profile through it all. Even not after sixteen years there were still so many scars from the war that he couldn't erase; deeds that he couldn't undo. Of course nothing bothered him as much as it had bothered Kira Yamato, no Shinn was a trained solider and he knew how to control his feelings unlike Kira who held onto the pain of lives lost during war. Shinn understood why what he was doing was not all his fault yet there were times when he still felt a little guilt for it all.

Time had a way of changing things for the mobile suit ace. He had learned more about life during his stay in ORB. He was not a part of the regular military but rather a secret part only known about by Cagalli Yula Attha and a small group of others. He never thought he'd be siding with Attha in the past but he came to ORB because of Athrun and soon he found out why his father had believed so strongly in ORB's ideals. Of course he had boarded the Tranquility in order to protect the PLANTs a month or so earlier but that was not his vessel.

"Shinn," the familiar voice of Captain Meyrin Hawke rang in the halls. Time had changed Meyrin as well she had grown very mature and beautiful; a few years ago she had finished her training to be a ships captain and since then she had been awarded the honorable position of Captain of the Minerva.

"Meyrin, do you have our orders yet," he said solemnly. The entire crew knew that soon they would be heading to space in order to bring aid to the Eternal but none of them knew the details of this. Meyrin beakoned him to follow her for a bit before she started to speak.

"Athrun Zala will be arriving here tomorrow," Meyrin replied, "he is bringing our orders from ORB. We are not to open contact with them in any way, this operation is not being conducted by ORB." Shinn understood these sentiments. The nation would be in jeopardy for harboring Lacus; she was that much of a 'criminal' to the plants.

"So in that case we are not using ORB mobile suits either," in the battle for the PLANTs he had been assigned to an ORB standard suit in order to keep his identity secret. He wanted to be able to use his more powerful mobile suit on the Minerva rather than to be seen as an ORB pilot.

"I have a strong feeling that Athrun is bringing with him orders to use the newly upgraded Destiny and the Impulse 2," was all Meyrin said as she exited the area. Shinn walked down a different hall lost in thought about the recent events. No photos of the Eternal had been released by the PLANTs so it was unknown whether Lacus had to fight her way out of the PLANTs or if she had just slipped out unnoticed. ORB could not get involved with her so in that case Athrun could not get involved with her. If Athrun was coming with only the Impulse 2 and the Destiny then how would he fight.

"So this is your plan Zala," Shinn said allowed to himself, "what will you use if you can not reveal your identity?" With that Shinn walked back to the mobile suit bay of the Minerva to prepare for launch.

* * *

"The point is that both of you failed in your mission," Captain Gilligan Manchester said pacing in front of Meiko and Trey. They had been asked to report to the briefing room, "The prejudice is an unfinished ship and there was no way for us to step in so it was both of your responsibility to take out the ship. A lot of money was spent on your training and the building of your mobile suits; your failure does nothing to help the support of our organization do I make myself clear." He was very angry with them.

"Yes sir," they both said. The Captain turned to one of his assistants for papers.

"Both of you will receive due punishment," he said looking toward Meiko who's head hung down and whose mind did not seem present. After battle's Meiko usually was like this; solem, determined, and not all there.

"But it wasn't our fault," Trey replied strongly standing up from his seat.

"Excuse me," the Captain said.

"The fault lies in whoever planned the mission." Trey angrily continued, "They failed to give us accurate information on the strength of the vessel, and if I am not mistaken Captain it is you who always say that the soldiers performance is based on the performance of the strategist."

"You step out of your place Likra Day!" the Captain said, "we gave you all the information you needed."

"No you didn't," Trey yelled this time, "you said the only mobile suit aboard was the first one! The one we had information on! We were never told that Clyne had developed a new mobile suit. These errors were not our fault." Trey was tired of them being blamed for everything, he saw this blame is just another effort of the Captain to try and weaken their inner strengths so that they could be controlled. Trey wasn't about to give his free will up that easily and he had to protect Meiko who would not dare defy her superiors. She was to soft, and she took the blame for to much for her young age; she had been fighting for too long.

"You were told that we could not predict every scenario," the Captain said stepping toward him, "You could have beaten that mobile suit."

"You told me to withdraw," Trey pressed on, "its your fault..." Meiko finally looked up her mind coming out of "post battle mode" and all she saw was the commander ready to hit Trey and she jumped up from her seat in a snap.

"DON'T!" she yelled jumping in front of Trey and taking the hard whack that was meant for him. Unprepared for the blow Meiko was sent flying to the hard ground with a small cry.

"Meiko!" the Captain said generally shocked. She was usually the most obedient but he had forgotten how kindhearted and strong she really was. She hated being around physical violence and always ran out of the room when he fought with Trey. Yet on the battlefield Meiko was a deadly weapon filled with anger and hate for whatever got in her way and even in assassination missions she was deadly. This double personality was somewhat of a mystery for the Captain but he realized he had no control over it. Meiko had been trained to be exactly the way she was for whatever reason; he was in no real control over the details of her life so he left that to the top ROW executives. Yet now he wondered what use there could be for Meikos apparent softness outside the battlefield.

"See what your temper has caused," Trey said.

"Guards," the Captain said, "put Ensign Likra Day in detention for now." The took Trey away and Meiko sat up from her position on the cold floor. The blow didn't really hurt her as she had gone through a lot worse in training and other missions but the anger of her Captain troubled her.

"Meiko," the Captain said softly bending down to her and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "It's alright now Meiko. I'm not angry anymore, I won't hurt you or Trey."

"I'm sorry," she said; she knew the only reason she had jumped up was because her reflexs were still unvoulntary because of the battle

"You'll be alright Meiko," he said helping her stand up, "you'll get another chance to fight that ship soon and you'll show us what you can do."

"Yes sir," she said wiping the tears from her eyes. With that the Captain and his assistant left.

Meiko reached her hand up to feel the necklace around her neck. It was a simple heart that had been given to her by her mother. It was the only memory she had of her and oftentimes it was her only comfort. She walked out of the room toward the hall which looked out into space. Her mind races wildly with thoughts of sadness as she looked out toward space yet there was something else there in the back of her mind. A presence in the far distance and for a moment she lost herself.

_White, everything was glowing yet there was someone there. She could vaguely make out the black silhouette of someone floating in the distance toward her. An outline of his hand reached toward her hand and she reached back floating toward this person. When her hand met his hand suddenly she felt her heart leap within her as if he was the missing part of her life. Who was he?_

As quickly and as suddenly as it had come her vision disappeared leaving her empty and alone once again. How could she feel so alone? What was missing in her life? How could she live so emptily?

* * *

Yaro watched as the engineers on The Eternal worked on The Visage and Commander Elsman's mobile suits in a hurry. There was no telling when they would be in battle again. Yaro was still amazed about the power of the mobile suit. He was glad that he didn't have to kill anyone, it would have been hard to bear actually ending a life.

"Yaro," he turned to see Uzumi floating toward him.

"Uzumi" he said with a smile, "how were things back here."

"Good," Uzumi said stopping next to him, "I was able to keep Kayla calm though the battle but to tell you the truth I was a bit worried about our situation."

"I was to," Yaro responded, "I wasn't sure I would be able to handle those two but I caught the first one by surprise."

"The element of surprise is a good one," Uzumi floated in front of another mobile suit in the bay. "The Journey," he said with a wondering voice, "I talked to Commander Waltfeld about the element of surprise and we decided that I would pilot this machine in the future if we needed any more help."

"Really?" Yaro said in surprise. It would be nice to have Uzmui out there though. As the 'Prince' of ORB he had received some of the best mobile suit training in the world. His father Athrun Zala, a legendary pilot, had personally overseen his training.

"Yes," the two were silent for a moment when Uzmui spoke up, "have you heard about Commander Elsman's condition?"

"No, is it bad." Yaro watched as Uzmui sighed.

"He's in treatment right now, but the doctor said he shouldn't pilot his mobile suit at least for the time being. He's pretty upset about it but there is nothing he can do but work on the bridge."

"Those two were that good huh?" Yaro's eyes flashed with pain, "They were good enough to set a veteran ZAFT pilot back."

"I saw them fight on the monitors and i can say that they are no amateurs," Uzumi and Yaro floated toward the exit that would lead them out of the mobile suit bay, "and their machines are very impressive as well."

"They were good," Yaro reminisced.

"Yes," Uzumi replied opening the door in front of him, "and I have a feeling inside me we will see them again which is why I spoke to Commander Waltfeld. I would hate for you to have to handle them all alone."

"Kids," they turned their heads down the hall and saw Commander Julianna Miuri floating down it toward them. She was a member of the bridge crew and worked with some of the main guns on the ship.

"Yes Commander Miuri," Uzumi said.

"I want to thank you both for offering to protect the ship," she simply said warmly. Everyone knew Julianna as a very kindhearted person who had followed Lacus Clynes ideals since she was a teenager watching the wars unfold in front of her.

"You're welcome commander," both boys said together. It was good to know that they were appreciated.

* * *

A pair of dark blue eyes watched the view of the rather large computer monitor in front of her. File after file opened revealing things to her expertise. Her shoulder length red hair was pulled back into a pony tail as she sat unblinking. Though she had discovered a lot recently she felt very strongly that something important was evading her. She always had been able to put together every piece of information she got but some recent things were troubling her. Suddenly she spotted something on her screen. In front her her images of _The Eternal_ in battle popped up. Her eyes widened at the pictures.

_So its begun_, she thought. She typed a few more words and pulled up an image of a large ship. The Prejudice was written underneath the ship. Interested she delved deeper into the files of the ships design and layout. Her well trained mind understood everything about the ship instantly as she paid special attention to its weaknesses and its secret strengths. She then pulled up a layout of its chief mobile suit; the Pain. It was a simple Gundam throwing away the leads that she wanted.

"She isn't ready yet?" the woman said aloud, "when will her battle begin?"

"Have you found it Milady," she turned around in the dark room and saw one of her most trusted commanders standing in the doorway. His platinum hair shone from the light of the computer screen. She smiled crookedly.

"Come see it," she simply said. He needed no further invitation to walk toward the display of the ship. This was all their enemies could whip up? No they both knew that they had to be wary of what the enemy could really achieve.

"What move are we making," he spoke his thoughts out loud. There was not much they really could do at the moment with much of their strength depending on new projects and developments.

"We will make no move until we find her," Milady said, "so much depends on our stealth in this mission. No one must know of our existence. We must especially stay hidden from Kira Yamato."

"Why do you fear him so," the man asked.

"I do not fear him," she said closing the documents, "I am trying to save him, his family and the whole world. In this I believe secrecy is the best path, even though we might be too late."

"But surely they need us now," he said.

"ROW still has a trump card," Milady stood up, "so much of our plan depends on successfully that care from their hands and I know that it has to have been revealed in some way before now its just the information keeps slipping away from me!"

"The world is at stake," the commander said, "we must speed up our efforts."

"He's making it so difficult to do that," she said angrily, "it's as if he knows I'm still here watching, waiting, knowing what I want! Understanding how much I have seen." Her last line was a whisper as her mind though of the past.

"But that's impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible with him," she saig clenching her fists before leaving the room. No they couldn't move now! Her plans were so fragile that one mistake could cost them but then again they were so perfect. She shook her head and bit her lip to keep the painful memories of the past from entering her mind again. Her redemption depended on the future and not the past though she knew that both Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne would probably disagree with her actions.


	5. Uzumi's Journey

**Phase 4: Uzumi's Journey**

**

* * *

**_"So what is the main purpose of you're organization," the young girl asked him. Liene walked slowly toward the large monitor._

_"To ensure a lasting perfect peace in the universe," he said with a smile, "with this new technology I will create a fighting force which will protect the world from harm."_

_"And where do I play a role in that?" she asked gripping her daughter in her arms._

_"Give me your child and she will be the cornerstone of peace," he said. He knew he had this girl, she was naive and did not really understand a thing about him. He had won many people over with his smooth words in the past months and now he finally had the last piece to his puzzle; an infant born to a simple dreaming girl._

_"Her name is Meiko," the girl said, "the only thing left in my life."  
_

**

* * *

**

"What are the exact odds if we are attacked?" Lacus asked looking at the data from the last battle. Her and Andrew Waltfeld had given the bridge crew a few minutes off so that they could discuss their future plans without worrying anyone . Lacus was tried of just floating toward the atmosphere, things were going too smoothly and she knew that something had to be coming for them.

"If we are attacked by the PLANT fleet we won't last very long," Andrew Waltfeld said looking at the large monitors on the bridge, "but if we're attacked by the same ship that got us leaving the plants then we may have a chance."

"Why is that?" Lacus asked floating toward the monitor knowing that it must have some important information for them.

"During the battle, when Yaro first went out he got everything redirected toward him," Waltfeld began causing Lacus to roll her eyes remembering her sons reckless antics, "I found out that the ship we were facing was not completed; it was quite obvious because it had guns but they seemed unable to fire. I pointed this out to Kiran who used his knowledge to hack the ships mainframe. You see since the ship was incomplete the firewalls necessary to keep Kiran out were not set up properly and even then with Kiran's skills I'm not sure anything could keep him out." Lacus smiled at the thought of her son; he was so much like Kira when it came to computers and yet he was still humble and sweet.

"And Kiran got the information necessary to defeat them?" Lacus spoke with a small level of hope in her voice.

"Well he only got a certain amount of information which he immediately transferred to me. He didn't have time to copy the entire mainframe and he didn't want to risk being detected by anyone. I haven't discovered much from the information that he did get but I did find out that the weapons systems are almost finished and will probably be done next time we see them since it is clear from this that they have no intention of just letting us slip away," he said with a sigh, "but I also found out that the two mobile suits we saw were the only ones the ship had on board and we have some information on them." With that he opened the two files on his monitor.

"The Pain and the Hatred," Lacus said with wonderment, "those names! There is nothing good about them, no intentions but to cause division and evil amoung both coordinators and naturals. They are not against me nor against coordinators but against the peace of the entire world," she spoke her thoughs allowed trying to make sense of everything.

"You can deduce that just by looking at the names?" Waltfeld said with a laugh.

"Not just the names," she responded, "but their actions are sinister. I saw the ROW emblem on their ship and yet they seem to be working with Jaley Lired against us." Lacus thought hard about what it all meant but she could not place anything. Could it be that Jaley was somehow associated with the group? She knew that it could not just be anti-coordinator if this was true. But if they weren't anti-coordinator then were their true intentions to disrupt the peace in the world? Was there something more to this plot?

"How does all this translate?" Waltfeld said with uncertainty.

"I don't know." There was nothing else to be said on that subject. In the sixteen years she had been the PLANT Chairwoman there had never been a plot so convoluted that she had to face on her own. Once she had fought off a blue cosmos group trying to take her life but she had Kira, Athrun and Cagalli always with her. As she though back to those events 14 years ago she remembered the extreme pains she was suffering with not seeing Kira very much. Cagalli had just had Uzumi but Athrun still worked to make sure Lacus was safe. Lacus shuddered as she thought about her narrow escape from the Gibraltar base and how Athrun had safely gotten her to ORB then Kira had saved her a few months after that and gotten her back to the PLANTs. No matter what trials she had faced Kira or Athrun were always by her and now she had neither of them.

"I wish Kira was here," she sighed tears filling her eyes as she thought of the love of her life. She reached to the ring on her left hand and looked out into space, "Where is he now? I wish I knew."

"He's probably thinking of you right now," Waltfeld comforted her. Lacus knew he was right, she could somehow feel Kira's mind brushing her own even though they were so far apart. What would he do in this situation? Would he know what the answer to everything was? Her thoughts were interrupted by the bridge door opening and Dearka Elsman walking in.

"How have you been Dearka?" she asked knowing what he had to have gone through out in space. He floated over to a nearby chair enjoying the free movement of the gravity-less environment.

"Well I can't fight in a mobile suit but the nurse says I can take a bridge position," he said, "if I'm needed that is." He grinned at the last words since he knew the the brige was slightly undermanned.

"Of course we can always use help," Waltfeld laughed leaning back on his chair after shutting down all the windows on his monitor. "You can start by getting me a cup of coffee." Lacus sighed and floated over to her seat in the center of the bridge.

"I don't want to be you're personal servant old man," Dearka said with a laugh.

"Old man?" Waltfeld whistled, "I'm not the one who got set back by a couple of new machines and youthful pilots."Dearka winced at the thought; he was a veteran pilot and he had successfully made it through some very tough battles. He was still very sore about his extremely quick loss but of course he blamed it on the state of his mobile suit and claimed it needed upgrades.

"Knock it off Waltfeld," Lacus sighed putting her head in her hands, "we have more important things to deal with."

"Like my need for coffee right now," he said standing out of his chair and floating toward the door, "I'll be back in a few minutes if everything stays quiet."

"And I pray it does," Lacus said floating toward the nearest computer.

* * *

"The weapons on the ship are now completely operational," the chief engineer said to Captain Giligan "we should be able to engage the Eternal in battle with no problem now."

"Good," the captain said with a chuckle, "now our plans can proceed."

"Well not quite," the engineer said, "we still need to upgrade the Pain's system."

"A system that will never be completed and that will never work," Gilligan sneered, "the higher ups are crazy if they think a new operating system is the key to a superior mobile suit! The skills of the pilot must be exceptional not the skills of the machine."

"Meiko has proven her worth," the engineer insisted, "she just need a little nudging along."

"You should be one of the higher ups! I've been telling them that for the past year," Gillagan laughed at his statement. Meiko was the most exceptional mobile suit pilot in ROW and he was lucky to have her on his team but it usually took a lot of urging to get her to fight a battle all out. His superiors forbid him from using certain "methods" of trickery and persuasion to get her to fight better and sometimes he was lost trying to deal with the innocent girl. He did not quite understand how she was still not cruel and unaffected; she had been a solider practically all her life. When she was 5 years old she begun mobile suit training, assassination training, and gun training. At age 7 she completed her first assassination mission with ease. At age 10 she had been assigned to a ground squadron in Africa and had taken out 10 Earth Alliance soldiers in a matter of minutes. At age 13 she was assigned her first mobile suit in one of Eurasia's many civil wars. Now at age 18 she hated killing and she was hardened beyond belief against cruelty. Gillagan could not understand what went wrong in her training.

"Captain," he turned to see an Ensign standing behind him out of breath.

"What is it," the captain grumbled.

"The Eternal is on our sensors now," the ensign said, "we should reach it in about fifteen minutes."

"Order the pilots to standby in their mobile suits," the captain commanded instantly rushing toward the bridge to assume command.

"But sir," the ensign spoke up, "Trey is still in detention!"

"Get him out on the battlefield!" The captain said floating faster toward the bridge. Lacus Clyne would give him no more tricks! Now was the time to take her and her coordinator family down!

"All hands, level 1 battle stations," rang throughout the ship. Yes it would all be over soon, Clyne's death as just the beginning of their master plan.

* * *

"All hands level 1 battle stations," ran through the Eternal. Yaro looked up from his computer and Uzumi looked up from his book. Both of them looked at each other then took off running toward the mobile suits.

"What do you think it is?" Yaro asked his young cousin.

"Might be those ROW agents you faced last time," Uzumi said with a worried tone, "lets hope they're not ready for us." The moment the two boys reached the mobile suit bay they were in their machines. Yaro quickly scanned every control in the cockpit and tried to remember the things Uzumi had told him. He knew the operating system would be easier than last time; Kiran had sat down and rewritten it 3 times before finally coming up with something he called perfect. Yaro had wanted to re-write it himself but Kiran was bored and he insisted that Yaro let him do it.

"You will be launching first," Leyas appeared on the screen to his right, "do not aim to kill! Your mission is to protect the Eternal. Once you get out there stick close to the ship until we can asses the situation."

"Right," Yaro said.

"Go ahead Visage," Leyas said loudly, "LAUNCH." Yaro began his launch sequence with ease. This was always his favorite part. He prepared himself for what might be coming.

"Yaro Yamato," he said, "Visage launching." He tried to remain calm as his suit whipped out into space. He maneuvered it quickly toward the Eternal and searched for his enemies. He saw a the same ship they had faced before still cowering in the distance. He searched for the two mobile suits but couldn't see them yet. Where were they? Why was everything so still?

"Whats going on," he asked Leyas.

"The Gundams are staying near their ship," Leyas said, "but there is no movement yet so remain calm."

"There is nothing calming about this," he grumbled.

"Watch out!" he heard Leyas's voice yell through the intercom and looked to see the two gundams bearing down on him and the ship fast. He turned on his targeting computer and shot at them but they dodged every shot.

"COME ON!" he yelled in frustration. He changed the position of his suit to a different angle sending him drifting away from the Eternal and shot toward the sides of the two suits. Their sudden speed decreased when they had to stop to raise their shields from Yaro's new found vantage point. He saw the black and green mobile suit speed toward him while the black and red one followed. Why were they attacking him first and not the ship?

Thrown off by their sudden move toward him Yaro jerked his mobile suit out of their line of fire. Where was Uzumi?

* * *

Meiko's movements were quick as her hands guided her gundam toward the strange white and blue mobile suit. She barely noticed the shots coming from him as her calloused hands took her toward him with ever increasing speed.

"Don't break away from formation Meiko," she heard Trey's voice coming over the radio, "we need to overwhelm him together."

"One of use could do the job credibly," she muttered as they drove the suit farther and farther from the eternal. She saw that the pilots movements began to become driven by panic and wondered why someone so untrained was in a mobile suit. Several times they began to advance toward him but he was clearly in defensive mode.

"Just attack already," she hissed at his movements. It would be much easier to destroy him once he lost his determined focus besides she would feel guilty killing someone who didn't make the first real move. She suddenly remembered that if he was a part of the Clyne faction than his intentions would be to protect and not to kill. Frustrated by the pilots intention to avoid harsh battle she bit into her lip and began a solo formation away from Trey.

"Meiko get back," Trey shouted, "we can take him together!"

"Not a chance!" she yelled moving her suit to provoke the other pilot. She spun rapidly around his firing range and pulled out her beam saber. This battle was going to be quick!

* * *

"Get Yaro back to the ship," Lacus yelled to Leyas.

"But Captain," Leyas said, "He's been driven out by the Pain, he needs help." The ship was engaged in heavy fire from the enemy ship as Lacus yelled commands to her crew.

"Where is Uzumi?" Commander Waltfeld yelled angrily, "get him out there!"

"But..." Lacus began to say something.

"Look," Waltfeld continued, "If we loosed Yaro and the Visage it won't matter that we kept the Journey's development a secret! Mobile suits are built to fight not to stand and look pretty!"

"When am I going out," Uzumi's face appeared on one of the main screens.

"Go!" Lacus yelled leaning forward in her seat.

"Yaro," Leyas began to yell, "Yaro, get back!"

"He'll be alright Leyas," Kiran said watching Uzumi fly out onto the battlefield. Now the numbers would be even; who would win?

* * *

"NO" Yaro yelled as the green and black gundam bore down on him. He quickly pulled his own beam saber out to defend himself against the crazed pilot. He knew that the pilot in the red and black gundam would now be able to shoot him down for target practice because of this but he had no choice.

"Yaro!" he heard Leyas's frantic voice again, "get back! Please get back!"

"Stop it!" Yaro yelled panicking more than before in the midst of his fight, "UZUMI!" He shouted with his hand on the universal radio frequency on accident. He quickly moved his hand cursing himself for being so panicked. He knew he had just reason to panic, he may have known a thing or two about mobile suits but he was definitely not ready to take down two obviously veteran pilots by himself. _If only I could face just one!_ He quickly focused his mind on the task before him. He met the first gundam's beam saber attack when he noticed the other gundam's targeting. He quicky analyzed how to avoid the red and black gundams shots while still fighting the green and black one. As he let his panic go he began to think clearer.

* * *

Meiko was stunned when she heard a boys voice across her radio yelled 'Uzumi.' She stopped for a moment wondering how young the pilot was and how long he had piloted a mobile suit. She found her thoughts totally interrupted by a glitch in her radar.

"What?" she said in shock as she noticed Trey picking up where she left off in engaging the enemy mobile suit in close combat.

"Meiko watch out," she turned just in time to block a shot from a mobile suit approaching them fast. She looked back on her radar and he wasn't there! She gathered her thoughts and focused her mind on trying to perceive his next moves.

"DANG IT!" she yelled rushing to meet the suit. The pilot expertly maneuvered right past her as if she was not even there. Anger flowed through her now as she turned quickly to chase him. He ignored her and went immediately toward Trey and the blue and white suit. His movements were incredibly fluent and perfect, better than any enemy Meiko had ever encountered.

She flowed him as he drove Trey away from the blue and white suit.

"Formation 6F," Trey yelled to Meiko. Both ROW pilots began to focus completely on this new mobile suit. Meiko almost reached her position when the blue and white suit got in the way with his beam saber.

"No you don't." she heard the boys voice from the radio again. This boy may not be the best pilot she had ever faced but he was persistent. She met his attack with fluidity. Their mobile suits danced in a deadly waltz around each other searching for weak points. She found herself fascinated by the blue and whites suits sudden unpanicked movements, as if just the presence of the other suit was enough to give him peace of mind. Suddenly a force seemed unleashed from her opponent, his abilities were greater as if his hands suddenly understood what he was really trying to achieve. Meiko threw herself into the fight completely enjoying her worthy opponent and wondering why he had not fought like this earlier.

This strange pilot was more human than anyone she had ever fought, he understood his mobile suit pretty well yet he let fear take him over. Fear was something Meiko hadn't felt in battle since she was a child; fear was an emotion that overtook her when she was alone. She would never show her fear yet this pilot seemed to wear it through his actions. On the other hand this pilot was brave and strong; his dual personality surprised her and reminded her of herself.

* * *

"Evade," Lacus shouted as the enemy ship fired a collective group of missiles.

"Too late," Watlfeld yelled in response. Suddenly a beam shot from the distance taking out the misses. They saw Uzumi leading one of the enemy mobile suits back toward the ship. He was fighting and protecting at the same time. Lacus's mouth dropped open as she saw how he fought with both the fluidity of Athrun and the aggression of Cagalli. His movements were perfect and graceful as they were dangerous and deadly. He was the product of a lifetime of emergency preparation; Athrun had been very thorough he trained Uzumi.

"Where is the Visage," she asked Kiran suddenly wondering about how her son was doing out there.

"He is engaging the Pain in close combat and doing quite well," Kiran said throwing his head back, "my OS is flawless."

"He is incredible," Lacus heard Waltfeld say watching the movements of Uzumi's mobile suits. Waltfeld had a point, none of their pilots had been able to handle the Journey during testing. Its development had been a very long process along with the Visage. Neither were really finished but the Journey was the worst off. Uzumis handling of the incomplete mobile suit was almost unreal.

"Get a visual of Yaro up," Lacus yelled to Kiran.

"Rodger," Kiran said putting Yaro's fight on the screen. Yaro's movements were less graceful but they were not bad at all. Lacus felt tears reaching her eyes when she compared Yaro's fighting to Kira's early mobile suit battles. Kira had begun a little ungracefully but his raw skill soon became natural fluidity. Lacus hoped that circumstances would not force Yaro to become completely familiar with his mobile suits cockpit.

* * *

Uzumi maneuvered his mobile suit while remaining perfectly relaxed. The Hatred fought him with everything and Uzumi realized that its pilot obviously was not as good as he had originally assessed. The pilot of the Pain was much more skilled and he could see that she was limited only by her machine. Uzumi ducked under some more shots from the hatred and pulled out his beam saber. In a series of spirals he confused the pilot and ended up behind him. In a swift movement Uzumi cut off the back thrusters of the gundam throwing off the balance of the pilot who retaliated by swinging his own beam saber at the Journey's weapons pack.

With his main thrust gone the Hatred could not do much and Uzumi assumed that he would be running low on power soon. In a couple swift movements Uzumi hurried to aid Yaro who was close to being overpowered by the Pain.

"Let me handle this one," Uzumi said over his radio channel, "You protect the ship."

"Rodger that," Yaro's voice came over the intercom.

"Let's see you take me out!" Uzumi yelled as he used his beam saber to try and attack the pain which blocked his brilliantly. The battle with the Pain was not going to be as quick and easy as the battle with the hatred had been.

* * *

"The Hatred has been badly damaged and is heading back to the main ship," Leyas said in excitement as she analyzed the battle in front of her.

"More missiles coming from the prejudice!" Kiran yelled quickly.

"Preparing to intercept," they heard Yaro's voice and saw his face on one of the main monitors. Leyas looked up to see the missiles coming at the port side of the ship were being destroyed.

"Dearka aim our main cannon toward the ships engines," Lacus said to Commander Elsman.

"Rodger," Dearka said, acknowledging her command.

"We'll have to bear toward them again in order to accomplish a real hit!" Waltfeld shouted out.

"Then bear toward them," Lacus said.

"We can not risk it right now!" Dearka yelled.

"Uzumi is engaging the Pain and they are moving toward out direction!" Kiran yelled. Leyas looked up toward the main window to actually see what was happening and as the Pain got closer to the ship a feeling began to stir in the back of her mind. She put a hand to her head trying to shut it out but to became hard to focus on the task before her. Images began to rock through her brain as she fought the feeling attacking her.

"Get Yaro to use his largest cannon on the ships engines," Lacus yelled. Leyas was a bit confused by the change of plan since she had missed part of the yells. Her mind still refused to focus.

"Leyas," Kiran put a hand on her shoulder, "are you alright?" As her twin Kiran could naturally feel when Leyas was flustered but he didn't know why; the battle was turning in their favor, now if they could just take out that ship... Suddenly a blast from The Prejudice hit the port side of the ship causing it to shake violently.

"Leyas!" Lacus yelled, "get the message to Yaro now." Kiran shot a worried glace at his mother as Leyas continued to be slightly unresponsive. Leyas was struggling even more with the feeling inside her head and she looked up to see that The Pain's strong attacks seemed to be faltering a little as it drew closer to the ship. What was it about the pilot that was effecting her so strongly. Unable to control herself any longer she retreated into unconciousness.

"Leyas!" Kiran yelled pulling off his headset and jumping to see what was wrong with his sister.

"Kiran!" Lacus said, "return to your post and get Yaro to go after that ship!" Kiran saw Lacus rushing to Leyas and quickly obeyed his mother.

* * *

Kayla looked up toward the only monitor in her room as soon as she felt an intense feeling pressing onto her mind. Something familiar yet strange was out there.

"Haro," Lacus's pink Haro bounced around the little girl, "what seems to be the problem!" Kayla closed her eyes trying to understand what was happening to her. Something exploded in the back of her mind as a resolve filled her. Something more was coming! Something much bigger than ever before and she had to stop it! What was happening!

"My head," she mumbled, "this feeling! Haro!" She opened her eyes as the feeling began to mellow and suddenly it was gone. She stood up from her chair and walked toward the locked door. Haro opened the door easily and she walked down the hall, to where she didn't know.

* * *

Yaro made his way toward the ship in front of him dodging many missiles and beams. He noticed that the performance of the Pain, which had suddenly become shaky, was now back to normal. Uzumi had the mobile suit well occupied and with the Hatred out of the battle the attack on the enemy ship was almost completely free and easy. Yaro maneuvered his mobile suit around the ships main guns. A large blast hit his right side throwing him off balance. He quickly fought to regain control by ducking under the ship. He was met by guns at the bottom side. Shocked he spiraled downward to avoid being hit.

"Yaro! Where are you?" Kiran's voice echoed on his radio. Wasn't Leyas his Communicator? He didn't have time to think about it avoiding more shots from the ship.

"They have weapons everywhere!" Yaro yelled firing a few beams at some missile launchers.

"I'm sending you a map of the easiest course to take to the engines," Kiran said calmly, "follow it and once you reach the engines use your beam saber against them! There is no time to waste." Yaro looked down at one of his data computers and saw the route being mapped out. He quickly followed the route wondering if they were going to make it out of this. Suddenly a blast hit the back of his mobile suit sending it flying in the opposite direction he was sup-post to go in. The Visage was thrown away from the battlefield and electric shocks ran through it causing Yaro to cry out in pain. What was happening around him?

* * *

**The Journey**

_Class: Clyne Faction Gundam series 83_

_Pilot: Yaro Yamato_

_ID: 2536LC_

_Specialty: Designed for speed and stealth, the Journey has a number of hidden specialties to protect it from all sorts of radar.  
_

_Appearance and weapons: Looks like the Aegis and has a transformable structure and it transforms into a plane like the Savior. The suit can several beam saber slots. The Sheild arm holds a special boomerang. It has several cannons built into its structure._

_

* * *

_

**So another chapter up... I did a chapter breakdown a few days ago to estimate when to reveal certain aspects of the story. I really worked on writing this chapter because I wanted it to have a little more substance than the past few careful about guessing future events though I will try and give as many hints as a I can. I recently also broke down some of the main events of the sequel story and I am having a blast with all this! It's a bigger project than I have ever attempted but I really hope that everyone likes it! Please review, I tend to get more inspired when people review. Now that Gundam 00 season 2 is over I am left with a few mixed feelings about its ending, I really think the first season was better and that this season got a little crazy and the idea of aliens in Gundam 00 next year is really beginning to bug me. I am looking forward to the Gundam 00 movie next year of course but I really want to see a Gundam Seed movie with no aliens; sorry about the rant :). - Winterschill  
**


	6. The First Light

**Phase 5: The First Light**

_Space... A massive vacuum of nothingness. Beyond it lie stars, planets, galaxies in a never ending beautiful universe. Space seems like a dream world to many but in CE 89 every conflict and pain that dwells on the earths surface also dwells within space. Will there ever be a time where mankind can live in peace? Will every place which humans dwell be filled with pain and suffering?_

"Docking complete; welcome General Liene." The announcers voice rang through the hangar as the self declared greatest ship in the universe, The Stranger, landed. John Liene stood up from his seat and looked out toward space as the hangar door closed blocking his view of the great back expanse. Liene had been ten years old when his father, Melran Trien had first brought him to space and at that young age he had seen space as a place where peace could finally be realized. Time had brought a hardness upon him that was unbelievable. He bowed his head as the past began to fill his mind. Space had always been his one refuge throughout his life. Every time the past had tried to catch up with him he had fled to space.

At age fifteen his father was brutally murdered in front of him as the world began to fall into unrest. As a political leader in favor of building colonies in space that would allow both coordinators and naturals Melran Trien became a target of Blue Cosmos for sympathizing with Coordinators. After killing his father Blue Cosmos dumped John Trien in ORB where he was able to regain a life. Changing his name to John Pri he got himself though school with a degree in genetics. He had always been interested in the technologies that had created coordinators in the first place. After college he moved to Alaska where he married and began his research and that was when everything happened. Had he been in space at the time he might have been able to protect himself. He loved space more than anything now.

At age thirty just before the Bloody Valentine he moved his wife and his two children to Eurasia to present his work to some of the leaders of the world and there he met his fate. The coordinator elite tracked him down in fear that he would be used by Blue Cosmos to create a race meant to destroy them. When they finally found him they murdered his wife and and eldest son driving him mad with grief. His young son soon became the target of Blue Cosmos as the youngest first generation coordinator in the world. Mad with anger John fled into space with his son and few followers and there he wallowed in his grief. A month later the war broke out as he watched the struggles unfold he soon realized that what happened to him happened because all humanity was filled with evil. He awakened at that moment with his final name Liene and from then on he worked opposed to all those who believed that peace could come. He worked to ensure a future where space would be uncorrupted by the greed of humanity**. **But something happen he never forsaw, his son, his last reason for life was destroyed and with the child went the last shred of humanity in Liene's heart. All that was left when it was all said and done was darkness and greif and his grief turned to anger and he blamed the world for everything.**  
**

Right after the war ended Liene stumbled upon an amazing find; a gifted baby girl born to an insecure teenage mother without any way of raising her child. This child was simply called "Meiko" so he gave her a last name and a future as the first pillar of his operations. He then found a child whom he was able to minipulate for his own gains, a boy whom could take on the powers that Meiko posessed. The two children would be brought up and trained for their special assignments which would rid the world of evil forever but Liene's dream would be shaken one more time. At a young age the boy was stolen from his program and Liene was left with only one pillar. Liene felt no remorse at the loss of the child because he soon discovered that thought he only had one child he had the right one. This little girl had proven to him that coordinators and naturals were silly to believe that they could exist without each other but he kept the secret of her birth buried within his mind alone.

Even in the peace of Lacus Clyne the world stayed segregated between Coordinators and Naturals with one exception; ORB. The inability of Coordinators and Naturals to live together as humanity would ultimately be their undoing. Sighing Liene stood up and walked toward the exit of the ship; he would soon right their wrongs and restore the world.

"General!" he was met at the end of the ramp by one of his top technical advisers, Ali Newent.

"Are all our developments on schedule?" he asked her beckoning her to walk alongside him. Ali was a coordinator who had lost her brothers in the second bloody valentine, they had fallen in ORB so her anger against the nation was one of his perfect tools.

"Sir, to be frank project 7341 has not moved at all," she said looking toward his blank face, "we have most of our top computer scientists and engineers working on it and we can't seem to break the natural mind barrier. Our test subjects are being either killed or driven mad; Sir I believe we must bring Meiko in soon."

"Meiko isn't ready for a test of that magnitude," he said, "she is still reeling from the last technology you tested on her. We can not break her for she is the key to the recreation of the world." Very few understood Liene's obsession with the perfection of Meiko but they didn't question it.

"Then what do you propose we do?" Ali was getting impatient with the rate of technological progressions in the factory and she had hoped Liene would bring a solution with him.

"Double your efforts," he said, "it must be ready on schedule."

"Yes Sir," she sighed, doubling efforts would make no huge difference since they were already expending so much energy into the project but Liene's orders could not be questioned.

"I am also here regarding the Sting," he said. His facial expression did not change, it was blank and emotionless as he spoke.

"It is moving on schedule and there have been no problems."

No problems yet...

* * *

Crashes sounded around them as the ship shook from each blast. The battle had just taken a turn for the worst; Uzumi's power was being stretched and Yaro's was gone. The crew of the Eternal had never failed in a battle and here at one of the most critical times in their lives they could not fail! They could not leave the world to be devastated by another giant conflict.

"Yaro is experiencing critical damage!" Kiran yelled, "He's a sitting duck where he is!" The boy worked frantically to help his brother whose life was hanging by a thread.

"Order Uzumi to protect him until we can make an approach!" Waltfeld commanded, "hang in there Yaro!"

"Leyas," Lacus whispered holding her daughter, she looked up toward Waltfeld "How does it look out there?"

"Its bad," Waltfed said, "If we take another hit on the port side we won't be able to make it very far. If we take more than one hit in that area we might loose the whole ship."

"I'll protect you and Yaro," Uzumi's face appeared on the largest monitor, "but I need you to cooperate." Everyone listened to Uzumi knowing that he had proved valuable so far.

"What does that kid want," Waltfeld said aloud.

"I want you to send out the G4 Booster pack," he said. Kiran looked at the monitor in shock; how did Uzumi know about everything they were carrying on the ship? Only workers and bridge members knew exaclty what was contained in the hangar.

"That thing needs a pilot," Waltfeld said.

"I'll go commander," Dearka said. Kiran stood up knowing that this could be his chance to follow in is fathers footsteps and protect the lives in the eternal.

"You're injured," Kiran said, "I'll go."

"With Leyas down we need you here son," Waltfeld said causing Kiran's hopes to be dashed, "we can send it out alone but we'll need precise coordinates to send it to." Kiran quickly relayed the message to Uzumi.

"I'll get you the coordinates," Uzumi said, "with the pack Yaro will be able to reboot, his suit is almost out of power; thats all I'm asking for."

"Missiles coming in at port," Kiran mumbled.

"Fire intercepting misses on the port side and aim all guns at that ship," Lacus yelled standing up with the authority she had gained through many years as Chairwoman of the Plant Supreme Council, "we have to get out of this. I'm taking Leyas to the medical bay."

"I'll take over while you're gone," Waltfeld said. Lacus then exited the room carrying her daughter. Waltfeld turned back to the task at hand, hoping for a miracle.

* * *

"HARO," the little pink robot said louder than before as Kayla stumbled through the hallways. Her eyes had changed with the resolve of SEED triggered by the presence in her mind; something big was happening around her and she could feel something coming. The pink haired child found herself in front of a door where a lot of noise was coming from. She sat down across from the door as her mind screamed for her to enter.

"What is happening!" She grasped her head as so many things seemed to fly through her. All she knew is she had to do something!

_"Kayla," _a voice called her, _"You can do anything! Just focus on your main goal and fight toward it!"_ She recognized the voice as her fathers. It was a memory of a time she had helped her ride a bike. What did the memory want from her? Why was her mind so clouded?

* * *

"Coordinates set," Kiran said looking up toward Dearka whom was set to key the launch code of the booster pack.

"Ready Uzumi?" Dearka asked. In order for their plan to work Uzumi would have to protect the pack, Yaro, and fight the Pain all at once. It was a little too risky for Waltfeld's taste but what were they to do? Without Yaro their fighting strength was critically low, of couse Uzumi couldn't fight everything on his own plus the loss of a family member at this time would not be pleasant in any way. The whole operation could save Yaro's life as well as everyone else.

"I'm ready when you are," Uzumi yelled, "this is our chance! The Pain has cowered to the mother ship for a beam recharge!" The bridge crew confirmed that this was true. Kiran prepared to hit his controls as Dearka prepared his own.

"Ready!" Kiran yelled flipping a few switches. Dearka typed in the code to trigger the launch sequence.

"Code initiating!" Dearka replied.

"The booster pack is launching!" another crew member responded.

"Yaro," Kiran quickly switched his channels, "prepare to receive the booster in 35 seconds." He saw Yaro's face appear on his screen. His brother looked flustered and a little bit frightened at is situation.

"Rodger that!" Yaro yelled, "it's a little freaky being out of power this close to a large vessel!"

"You can tell me about it later," Kiran said, "once we make it out of this!" Waltfeld listened to the boy's sound of assured victory and dearly hoped that the two brothers would get their conversation.

* * *

"What are you doing!" Gilligan yelled again; Meiko was definitely not in the mood to be bossed around at this moment. Her blood had begun to flow more rapidly and the presence that she had felt in her mind earlier had caused her too much confusion! What was it about the eternal that seemed so precious and familiar to her? She somehow knew that something familiar was aboard the vessel; she had felt this presence before in a small way. She shook the feeling out of her mind, now was not the time! Right now she had to destroy that ship and those two troublesome mobile suits.

"Come on use the beam!" she yelled, "give me some power." Her mobile suit was met by the beam as she noticed an object racing toward the blue and white mobile suit which was sitting out of power. She couldn't sit her. Her recharge wasn't finished but that suit couldn't get anything! She would make sure of it. In a blinding flash she spun her mobile suit toward the blue and white suit. It was going down today. She got closer and closer; at the same time she saw the Prejudice's secondary cannons also aiming at the suit. She pushed her mobile suit and pulled out her beam saber when suddenly something unexpected happened; a blast from the Eternal rocked the back of her suit sending her off course and giving the pilot of the blue and white suit enough time to dock with his little pack. Meiko growled and maneuvered her mobile suit back toward the blue and white suit which was not able to meet her attack with his own beam saber.

"What is wrong with these people!" she yelled, "can't you all just die!"

* * *

"Docking successful!" Kiran yelled letting a huff of releaf pass through his mouth.

"Thank goodness," Andrew Waltfeld sighed, "he won't be able to use any of it's weapons without a pilot in it but he got the power he needed."

"What's happening!" They heard a small voice exclaim. Waltfeld turned quickly in shock to see Kayla floating onto the bridge followed by Haro.

"Kayla!" he exclaimed nodding to Dearka as he stood up. He was about to float toward her when he saw her eyes; her pupils had shrunk but her iris had grown very large. He immediately recognized what had happened to her but it shocked him. Kayla had the seed just like her parents and yet it had manifested now of all times. Kayla was not in battle or at an emotional height, she was just a child sitting in the back of the ship waiting. What could have triggered this sudden change and how could it have happened to her so young?

"Where's mommy?" Kayla asked looking around her, "something's coming! Somethings happening! We have to get out!" Kayla then grabbed her head and let out a small cry of pain.

* * *

Yaro turned to fight the Pain for the second time in this battle. Would this mobile suit ever go down?

"Why can't you just let us go!" he yelled trying to find the pilots weak points. Suddenly retreat flares came from the enemy ship. He looked to see Uzumi's mobile suite immediately stop attacking the ship, adapting quickly to the peaceful meathods of his family. The other pilot seemed torn but the suit went back to it's mother ship anyway. Yaro quickly turned off his beam saber and began to breath deeply searching for flares from the Eternal.

"Stay alert Yaro," Uzumi's face appeared on one of his monitors, "Something is not right and we can't just let our guard down because they are leaving."

"Rodger," Yaro said looking around him. There was something wrong about this situation. These guys seemed absolutely determined yet they moved away so quickly. They couldn't just be frightened about the odds being against them; Uzumi's mobile suit could run out of power at any moment if he wasn't careful then the odds would be even once again.

"What's the situation on the bridge," he said switching channels and sending the message to Kiran.

"Leyas fainted for some reason so mother took her to the medical room," Kiran responded, "Kayla just appeared on the bridge a moment ago. I'm worried about her Yaro, she's been holding her head, mumbling about something coming and her eyes have changed! I'm not sure what's going on!" Yaro took all the information in wondering about what could be wrong with his sister but his mind quickly remembered all the dangers that could take place at this moment in time.

"What is the situation of the ship?" he asked quickly.

"We have experienced critical damage on the port side," he said, "we'd be a sitting duck if it weren't for you two." Yaro looked up toward the enemy ship. Why were they leaving? Most ROW ships were ruthless to the end and they didn't leave a job undone unless random and uncontrollable outside circumstances intervened. He sighed thinking about how ROW could have sent more than one ship but they didn't. He was just glad they didn't and he was glad that the PLANT fleet had not found them yet.

_The PLANT fleet_.

His head jerked up as the thought suddenly jumped in his mind. One ROW ship could face the Eternal but if that one ship were fighting a fleet it wouldn't stand a chance. The PLANT fleet would destroy a ROW ship on sight in anger; of course they wouldn't care if they shared common goals. ROW was the enemy of the PLANTs in every way and never would any ship from the PLANTs hesitate in attacking ROW. The PLANT fleet would be sufficient to frighten the one ship off. He cursed loudly pounding his fist on the wall while turning his communicator back on with his other hand.

"We have to get out of here!" he yelled to the whole bridge, "the ship wouldn't just retreat! It must be the PLANT fleet! They are out looking for us! We have to run!" He sounded as desperate as he was yelling to them. He heard Andrew Waltfelt curse through the communicator as well.

* * *

"Get us out of here!" Kiran yelled.

"I'm picking up three signals!" Dearka Elsman's head shot up as he saw what Yaro was talking about coming on his screen. "They're are three ships! Two Atermis class war ships and a Neo Nassca class!"

"An advance fleet!" Andrew Waltfeld said, "chances are they have already caught are signal and we can't outrun them in this state."

"We can't fight them either!" Lacus's voice was heard as she floated back to her seat, "we can't do this!"

"Let me talk to them," Kayla said with her small voice. Lacus had not even noticed her there so it surprised her to see the little girl. Lacus was shocked to see her little girls eyes as well. What had happened to cause this?

"They are coming toward us fast!" Kiran exclaimed

"It's alright Kayla," Lacus said putting a hand on her daughter's arm. Kayla didn't even look at her nor did her eyes change. She simply walked to Leyas's station.

"I have to talk," Kayla said turning to face her mother finally, "daddy said I could do anything and I know what I have to do." Tears filled Lacus's eyes at the mention of Kira, she missed him so dearly. She knew better than to stop someone in Seed mode, the resolve it held was amazing and inexplainable. She let her daughter work at Leyas's station while the bridge crew scrambled to prepare for a larger battle. Uzumi had brought the Journey back into the Eternal for a quick recharge and Yaro had landed on the ships hull. The whole atmosphere of the ship had changed as they knew they probably couldn't make it past the three ships.

"Surrender is an option," Waltfeld said.

"All of you would be executed for accompanying me," Lacus said, "and I would be forced to live knowing that. No we have to have hope."

"There is always some hope," Uzumi said floating onto the bridge, "they don't know our fighting strength so we have to make them believe it is more than it is." Lacus looked at the boy whose presence reminded her of both Athrun and Cagalli; he had already done so much for them yet here he was again ready to assist them in any way he could.

"What is your plan?" Lacus asked.

"Dearka must launch!" he said, "even if all he does is stay on the hull and shoot down random targets, he must launch!"

"He's injured," Waltfeld said.

"I can handle just firing at the enemy!" Dearka exclaimed, "it won't be too hard!"

"And I'm launching in the Journey," Uzumi said, "I wonder if we should put someone in the G4 booster pack."

"Who do you suggest?" Lacus asked.

"Just scratch that," Uzumi said, "there is no one that we can spare to pilot it. If only we had Leyas back!"

"We should have an escape plan," Kayla's voice rang through the bridge as it spoke loudly. She was working on the computer at Leyas's station. Everyone on the bridge was unsure what to think of the small girl, no one stopped her since Lacus had not but they were all a little worried about what she was doing.

"What kind of plan?" Uzumi asked.

"A descent to earth," Kayla said, "if we can't fight them off we must descend." Lacus instantly knew that it wasn't her daughter talking but the resolve within her; Kayla was young and no girl at her age could think like this. What was going on?

"And we must stirke fear into their hearts," Kiran said.

"Right!" Uzumi said, "if it comes to a descent orbit, launch someone in the Strike Freedom. It doesn't matter who it is at this point! Just send it out and keep it near the ship. The appearance of the Freedom before we make our descent should buy us a little time while they try to figure out whether or not they should fear it." Everyone looked at him in shock knowing what the Strike Freedom meant. Kira was the only person in the world who had ever piloted it and it was a symbol of hope to people on earth and in the PLANTs. The Strike Freedom was so much more than a weapon, it was immortal and powerful, beautiful and terrible.

"That is risky," Waltfeld said.

"We can't loose the Freedom," Lacus said desperately.

"They're here!" Kayla yelled gripping her head and putting on Leyas's communicator. Uzumi quickly rushed out to the Journey and Dearka rushed to his suit.

"Lauch!" Kiran yelled as soon as he confirmed that they were both ready. The whole bridge saw the three ships looming in the distance.

"Do not fire," Kayla said standing up and pressing a button instantly opening a communication channel with all three ships leaving the bridge crew shocked at what this little girl had accomplished.

"Sir the Eternal is opening up a communication with us," an officer said.

"It might be a surrender," the commander replied, "open the channel and let them speak." As soon as the channel opened they did not see Lacus Clyne but instead there stood the youngest of the family, Kayla. Her eyes looked strange causing the entire ship to gasp; what was happening to this girl.

"Hello," she said sweetly, "my name is Kayla Yamato and I am the daughter of Lacus Clyne as many of you may know. I am not speaking to you to surrender, nor am I speaking to you out of request of anyone on this ship. I assure you I am speaking to you from my heart and this decision is my own. I do not completely understand the entire reason why we are running from you and why you are chasing us but I do understand that we have done nothing wrong. My mother Lacus Clyne has always served the PLANTs with dignity and honor and never would she betray them. She also has been fighting for peace since the great wars and she would never work with enemies of the peace like ROW same goes with my father whom hates war with everything that is within him. I want you to ask yourselves, how could Lacus betray peace? Search her actions, not the ones you see on the media today, but the real ones that are recorded in the halls of the PLANT records." Kayla breathed deeply before continuing.

"I am asking you all to please let us go free, please don't cause the deaths of innocence to be on your hand for we are all innocent. I am not asking this just for myself but I am also asking this on behalf of my siblings and my friends. Please don't allow innocence to be destroyed! I ask you please let us go." Suddenly Kayla's eyes faded to normal as she looked around understanding what the strange force had led her to do.

"Please," she said one last time before sitting down on the ground. The entire crew of each ZAFT ship were amazed at the little girl and many of them began to have doubts about their missions. The general gritted his teeth in anger, this little girl was trying to stop them! What would he do if his crew backed down because of her?

* * *

**I hope you all liked this chapter. Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I've been really busy preparing for my graduation among other things. I'm really tired and I just finished my final edit but this might be one of the weaker chapters. It transitions into something but I promise! I'll let you know that I think Kira should be coming in a few chapters and I know the Minerva is on its way! Also Redemption is going on her first mission soon! I can't wait to finish this!**

**-WintersChill  
**

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	7. Destiny's Might

**Phase 6: Destiny's Might**

* * *

"They're not doing anything!" Kiran said in distress as everyone on the bridge gritted their teeth waiting for some sign of the groups intentions.

"Keep watching them, I don't think we're going to get off that easily," Andrew Waltfeld replied. All monitors in the ship were silent as the ships sat still in the distance contemplating the things that had just taken place.

"Get the names of the three ships," Lacus said standing up, " and hurry!" Lacus knew that certain members of the military were sympathetic toward her cause, she needed to know if any of those members were on the battlefield now.

"Do not make any moves," Uzumi said through his radio, "As long as we appear to only be defensive Kayla's speech may work on many minds." They all watched and Kiran finally pulled up the data Lacus had wanted.

"The ships we see are The Aquarius, The Versailles, and The Paresia," Kiran said to his mother, "I do believe that The Aquarius is a Clyne faction vessel!"

"No," Lacus said standing up, "they just have a few crew members who were a part of the Clyne faction when it existed. Those members haven't worked for me in years! I don't suppose we have any real chance against them." Suddenly the main general of the forces before them appeared on the screen, Lacus glared when she recognized him as General Steven Howerl, one of the worst men in the military. He was known for his brutal effective tactics when taking out threats to the PLANTs and Lacus would have had him discharged from the military had he not had the support of several council members. So they had sent him after her. She dreaded the encounter to come.

"Since you are so eager to avoid bloodshed I ask you to consider surrendering," he said slyly, "I am sure you are well aware that the chances of you making it out of this situation are impossible but I am not unreasonable. I offer you all your lives if you surrender, except of course the life of Lacus Clyne who will be placed under PLANT jurisdiction. I know your listening Clyne, it is very selfish of you to endanger your children further by not surrendering and continuing this pointless battle." Lacus gritted her teeth and thought of the words he said. If they fought the odds were they would all end up dead but if they surrendered then maybe at least her children would survive. Mother's instinct told her to save her children but then she thought of Yaro, for accuatlly piloting against ZAFT he would be charged regardless of when Howerl said and Uzumi would face the same. Uzumi's trial would lead to ORB taking some of the blame for their sudden disappearance. It seemed both ways there was too much to risk.

"Don't listen to him mother," Yaro said, "even if they keep us alive do you really think they are going to let all of us children of Lacus and Kira live in peace? Do you really think they are honorable?" Lacus looked down at the ground, the choice was too hard. What could she do?

* * *

_Time has dictated that we live on with the memories that haunt us most. But what of the memories that we have forgotten? Could the mystery in the unknown free us from the hurt of our nightmares?_

_They were all dead. Hundreds of them, stacked like trash around the trenches. Ashy violet eyes looked into the wreckage with clear pain and fear. What had she done? She Took a step backward as she saw a small girl's head nearby. The horrific sight finally set into her mind and she let out a cry of anguish. She turned to run away from it as her fear reached its highest level but she smacked right into her commanding officer._

_"Tragic isn't it," he spoke with cruelty dripping from his voice. The small girl sought comfort not another lesson._

_"I killed them?" she asked with tears escaping her eyes. She dropped the gun she was holding and it made a sound as it hit the ground.  
_

_"No," the man said putting a hand on her head, "you only shot because they gave you no choice but to shoot. They killed themselves and besides you weren't the only one pulling the trigger. They would have killed you and your friends if you had let them."_

_"No!" she screamed louder than she had in her life, "I can't kill like this! I can't be a monster anymore."_

_"Not a monster," he grinned selfishly, "a nightmare for all who cross you."_

_"NO!"_

* * *

"No!" Meiko woke up from a deep sleep and glanced around seeing that she was in her room. She had barely been asleep five minutes and this was what had happened. No the dream wasn't an actual event but it was based off the many things she had been forced to see as a child. As a young girl her training had been rough and she had been ruthlessly thrown into battle against rebels in ROW territory. She had been exploited to the max and made to see many horrific things. It had made her the sensitive but strong soul she was today even if it was meant to harden her to not understand the pain of death. She understood it well; she could feel it when she killed someone, there was a pang in her heart and the stars seemed to fall out of the sky. She felt each life leave the universe and each one broke through her mind screaming to her. She heard them all as they died though she tried to block them out; they were all there in that moment screaming in anguish as they were lost to the world. This wasn't something that had been trained into her, it was something she was born with and no one could take it from her, no matter how many things they did to harden her; she was forever soft.

Even now tears rolled down her face as she remembered how many people have died because of her. It was her life and she couldn't escape it; no one had ever tried to rescue her. She knew what her master wanted and to him she was his perfect weapon. If she tried to stray from this she would be punished and because of that she shut all those around her out hoping that if she held no one dear he could not take anything from her. When people were kind to her she ignored them, hoping that they would stay away from her. In the end of it all she always tried to tell herself that none of the actions were her own, that she had no choice but something in her heart told her it wasn't so.

Her thoughts raced back to the Eternal, was it really full of people who desired evil? In all the old stories the appearance of the Eternal marked the age of peace and in this time of fear and anger peace is what the whole world desired. In a way Meiko felt sad for the people of the Eternal for she knew they would not survive against the PLANT warships after the damage she had inflicted upon them. Now more lives would be laid on her conscience; lives she could never erase.

* * *

"I will not surrender," Lacus lifted her head from looking at the ground and opening a channel with the other ship, "for I have done nothing wrong! It is as Kayla has spoken, you all have a choice to make; kill innocence or let us go for we will not kill a single one of you if you do attack and we will not make any moves to attack until you do! I have already risked so much for this world and even now, 16 years after the great wars, I am ready to risk it all again for the sake of peace and if you to desire peace make your move!"

Yaro listened to his mother talk with such conviction that it drove everything within him to protect the ship. He felt the pressure of his duty but at the same time he felt the honor of it! They could not loose this fight and he would make sure that they didn't.

* * *

"Commander," a crew member on the Zaft ship said, "what should we do?" The general gritted his teeth and considered what had happened, today was the day that Lacus Clyne would be destroyed and he would make sure of it.

"Prepare to launch all mobile suit teams!" he shouted, "I want that ship shot down today! As general of this ship I order all of you to destroy that vessel! Use Tactics G8 and 3H." Every looked at him in shock, a few knew that the PLANT supreme council really wanted Lacus alive. Suddenly before the orders had even been given one mobile suit team launched and shot quickly toward the Eternal.

"Commander they haven't received orders!"

"What are they doing," the general yelled with rage fierce in his eyes, he could not afford to have Clyne Faction members leaving the ships left and right.

* * *

"A mobile suit team has been launched from one of the ships!" Kiran yelled in shock.

"One team?" Waltfeld questioned, "They wouldn't underestimate us that much! Keep you eyes open!"

"They are requesting to open a channel with us," Kiran said with a hint of relief in his voice. Everyone sat on the edges of their seat as they looked at Lacus for orders.

"Open it!" Lacus declared.

"This is Lunamaria Hawke of the Attha-Clyne faction," a female voice said as Lunamaria's face appeared on the screen. Everyone looked in shock, Lunamaria had been living in ORB the past few years; how could she have just joined the PLANT military without anyone noticing, "I was given orders by Cagalli Yula Attha to gather any members of the Clyne faction military. Me and my four comrades request to join you against those who would oppress you. For the sake of peace we will fight to protect the White Queen with out lives."

"Lunamaria!" Lacus replied in relief, "thank goodness! We receive your aid gladly as we need it! Please Join our three mobile suits and if you need repairs feel free to enter the eternal at any time! You are very much thanked for your actions."

"No problem!" Lunamaria said, "according to my intelligence there is more help on the way! But be prepared for a swift attack." Just then another three mobile suit teams of the advanced fleet launched and the now eight mobile suit pilots on Lacus's side prepared themselves for the fight.

The battle begun swiftly as both mobile suit groups clashed between the ZAFT ships and the eternal. Lacus gave her group strict orders not to kill anyone which made it much harder for them all.

* * *

"Yaro!" Yaro had just disabled a mobile suit when Uzumi has called for him.

"What!" Yaro said desperately fighting off another enemy.

"We need to keep those ships from breaking around the battlefield and getting a clear shot at the Eternal!" Uzumi said, "the middle one is backing up the mobile suit teams but the other two..." Yaro saw the formation on his radar and tracking system, they were going for their true target, Lacus Clyne. He clenched his teeth at the thought of the Eternal being destroyed. Yaro flipped around the mobile suit he was fighting and slashed at its main engines before kicking it away from him.

"You take right!" Yaro said blasting away from the battle toward the ship on the left and ignoring the voices that tried to contact him on his comm system. The move was reckless but he knew what he had to do, the Eternal and everyone on it depended on him! He could not let them down, he wouldn't.

As he approached the ship he was met by many shots and a mobile suit that had stayed behind to defend the ship. He played it safe only defending against the mobile suits attack hoping that he could find the pilots weaknesses. He realized the mobile suit was equipped for a distance battle and that in a close battle it wouldn't last long. He then drew his beam sword and deflected some beams from the ship behind the mobile suit before going in for a close attack on the suit. He clopped at the legs of the unit and then shot its head off with the built in cannons on the booster pack. The unit was left flying blind and Yaro used that advantage to attack the ship. His family had to survive.

* * *

"Uzumi, a close attack on the ship without full power is too risky," Kiran pleaded with his cousin.

"I'm almost there," Uumzi cried pushing his Gundam to move faster, "there's no turning back. We have to make it through this and we can't let anyone get near the eternal." As Uzumi neared the large vessel he vowed only to take out the guns and engines. He would not allow blood to stain his hands. He began a quick formation and swung around the ship taking out some of it's main guns. After a second swing he shot down a wave of missiles while dodging more beams from the ship. He took a beam to his sheild which destroyed it. He would have to be more careful now. He swung around the back of the ship this time and tore at it's engines. He took out one of the five engines and a few more towers on the ship

He dodged another close shot and cursed himself for not watching all angles. He looked and saw that his power was almost near the yellow zone. Three direct hits and he would loose his armor, not to mention those cannons were strong enough to take him out now with three direct hits. He shot away from the ship realizing he had done all he could, he just hoped that Yaro fared better.

* * *

Lunamaria fought desperately in the strange unit she had stolen. She watched as two of her comrades fell in the battle and now only four units defended the Eternal as Uzumi and Yaro shot off toward the ships. Dearka couldn't do much sitting by the bridge and firing warning shots at anyone who dared to get near to the ship. She worked hard to only disarm the mobile suits though it would have been much easier to completely destroy them.

Another wave of suits was launched from the middle ship as Lunamaria and her two comrades cleaned up most of the previous wave. They wouldn't last if the ship didn't stop launching waves.

"Lunamaria," she heard Lacus's voice, "how many mobile suits is that middle ship carrying?"

"That one was filled past capacity," Lunamaria declared, "they wanted to overwhelm us!" Lunamaria looked at her timer, they had to hold out for a little longer. Where was the help they were promised?

* * *

Yaro attacked the ship's many cannons with full force searching for a way to stop the large craft. Could he really bring it down?

"Go for the engines Yaro!" he heard Dearka's voice. "that way you'll bring stop it without killing anyone. Be careful."

"Got it!" Yaro said. He tried hard to make it to the engines but the cannons were firing double what they had before. This was getting desperate. Suddenly one of the cannons that Yaro thought he had crippled unexpectedly shot, he made a move to dodge at the last minute but it hit him severing off the leg of us unit. He cried out as his Gundam was thrown away from the ship. He wasn't going to die, he couldn't! The people on the Eternal were depending on him. His breathing increased as he reached out with his mind and suddenly gained control of something. The G4 booster pack erupted as he shot the heavy missiles stored in it. The effort it took to control the pack from his unit drained all the power left in the Visage. He watched in horror as the missiles planted themselves all around the ship exploding and destroying the ship and every life in it.

"NOO!" he yelled.

* * *

"General we have completely lost The Paresia!" A bridge member declared, "and The Aquarius is badly damaged. It's those two Clyne faction suits!"

"Continue to concentrate all attacks on the Eternal," the General yelled with fire in his eyes, "we can't let them get away!"

* * *

"Yaro has lost all power!" Kiran yelled with worry.

"What happened?" Lacus yelled. Without power Yaro would be a sitting duck.

"The Paresia has been completely destroyed!" Kiran declared earning a shocked and saddened looks from everyone. Tears came to Lacus's eyes, Yaro had now been stained by the blood of the people on the ship and he would likely carry the scar of it the rest of his life just like Kira had done. Every person Kira had killed in the first war still haunted him. Lacus did not want Yaro to feel that pain and neither did Kira; that's why they had fought so hard for peace.

"A mobile suit has broken through!" Watlfeld yelled from his seat.

"It's coming straight for us!" Kiran said, "and there's another one heading for Yaro!"

"We can't die!" Lacus cried, "We have to make it."

* * *

Yaro fought to gain some control of his powerless suit as he saw another unit moving away from the battle toward him! He screamed out as he heard the voices of his loved ones screaming his name into his intercom. Tears filled his eyes as the deaths of the people in the ship he destroyed hit his mind. The unit bore down on him, he braced himself for the blow of the beam sword and closed his eyes.  
_  
Is this the end? The world has begun to fall into unrest and I still have so much left to do. I can't leave them all. Lacus and Kira have been better parents to me than anyone ever could be and my siblings Leyas, Kiran and Kayla look up to me as their brother. There are so many people in this world who care about me even though I am just an orphan... So why? Why do people insist on fighting? Why was ROW created and why did I have to be born in this time? _

**Violet eyes and Red bangs. A tear. A heart. Something he couldn't see. A hidden path.**

_What?_

The blow that he expected to feel never came as he heard the sound of something fast swing in front of him followed by mini explosions waking him from his trance. He opened his tightly shut eyes and saw something. A unit hovered in front of him defending him and The Visage. He looked toward the machine as a few tears escaped his eyes. He was alive.

"A Gundam," he said.

"This is Destiny pilot Shinn Auska," a transmission said, "please respond Yaro Yamato."

"Shinn?" Yaro said shocked. He hadn't seen Shinn in four years since his last visit to ORB, he was a friend of the family and according to Uzumi one of the best mobile suit pilots in Cagalli's secret military. What was he doing here.

"Looks like we made it just in time," Shinn said with a grin scooping up the downed Mobile Suit.

* * *

Lacus and the rest of the bridge watched in awe as the Minerva came into sight blasting a few mobile suits out of its path. Dearka had successfully shot down the mobile suit that was coming at the Eternal thanks to the Minerva distracting it. Now the giant warship bore down on the two remaining ZAFT vessels.

"This is Captain Meyrin Hawke of the Clyne-Attha Faction," Meyrins voice rang through the bridge of the Eternal, "Lacus Yamato do you read me." Kiran smirked as he heard his mothers real last name spoken, people forgot it all the time but her closest friends never did.

"Meyrin!" Lacus declared with joy.

"Hello Lacus, how fare the Yamato clan?" Meyrin said with a smile.

"We made it!" Kiran yelled before Lacus could answer.

"As he said," Lacus laughed.

"It seems Yaro was rescued by the Destiny?" Kiran said with a puzzled look at his monitor, "does that mean Uncle Shinn is here?"

"Sure does," Waltfeld said, "They couldn't have come a moment too late."

* * *

Shinn jumped into the middle of the battlefield just in time as he saw only two Clyne faction units remained. He tore through mobile suit after mobile suit, disabling all and not killing any with a power much greater than that of any other unit on the feild. He had first secured the Visage on The Minerva because it was much closer than the Eternal. He looked toward the Clyne faction unit with curiosity, he recognized that fighting style but he didn't know where from. He saw a unit moving toward the suit and took it out before the suit could.

"I can take care of myself you know," an angry voice that he instantly recognized said.

"Lunamaria!" he said shocked, "what are you doing here?"

"You don't think your the only one who cares about what happens in this world?" She snapped, "At least I didn't arrive late!"

"Whatever Luna," he stated. She hadn't changed one bit, still angry at him. Shinn shot away from the small mobile suit battle toward the middle ship which was completely undamaged. He beat the Minerva to it and began taking out the heavy altileray that decorated the warship. He would not let them get a step closer to the Eternal or Lacus, not in this life.

* * *

"Commander, The Destiny is right beside us!" A bridge member yelled.

"Impossible!" General Howerl exclaimed, "the Minerva was destroyed in the war sixteen years ago as was the Destiny! Where have they been hiding all these years?"

"The situation is getting out of our control," another member said, "sir without the Parisea and with these new developments we're sitting ducks out here. The Destiny is tearing apart our weapons! We have to order a retreat." Howerl glared at the battlefeild, he would never live this down when he returned to the PLANTs.

* * *

"The ZAFT forces are retreating," a bridge member on the Minerva said.

"Good thing to," Meyrin said, "we wouldn't want to be forced to turn them into space dust."

"The Eternal has been crippled beyond belief," Arthur Trine, a long time Minerva crew member spoke up, "its a wonder she made it through that."

* * *

"It seems the Eternal got away from the ZAFT forces," Trey said to Mieko. She and him sat in the ships dining hall and she had barely spoken two words through the entire meal. Her head shot up at the words but she didn't say anything, her heart calmed telling her that there would be no more lives added to her hands for now. She looked back down to her plate.

"Does that mean we're going after them again?" she asked.

"No," Trey responded, "it has been rumored that the Minerva rescued them."

"The Minerva?" Meiko asked loudly with shock. Everyone in the hall looked toward them. She looked back down at her plate, the Minerva was a famed warship from the Second Bloody Valentine. It had been defeated by the Archangel and it hadn't been seen since, how now was it fighting alongside the Eternal?

"That's the story," Trey whispered, "and it seems the higher up's aren't really pleased. I've heard that they have started production on a new mobile suit system to defeat the Clyne units."

"I certainly don't want to fight them again," Meiko said crossing her arms. She hoped beyond hope that she would soon be free of the battlefield

* * *

After the Eternal and the Minerva had made it a distance away from the battlefield Meyrin made arrangements for Lacus and a few others to be brought onto the Minerva to discuss the matters at hand. One thing was for certain they wouldn't be going back to the PLANTs any time soon.

"Welcome Lacus," Meyrin said as the White Queen came onto the bridge with Andrew Waltfeld, Lunamaria Hawke, Dearka Elsman and Uzumi Zala. Yaro walked up to greet his mother whom was overjoyed that he was alive.

"We have our lives to thank you for," Lacus said, "we would have all been history had you not come along when you did. But I do have one question, who was it that sent you." Just them someone walked from out of the shadows into the light and everyone's eyes widened at the sight of the war veteran.

"My dear wife did," Athrun spoke, "she couldn't bear to sit around and wait for news without taking action." Uzumi's eyes widened and the 15 year old couldn't contain himself he ran and hugged his father. Lacus smiled at the family reunion and Yaro looked on in complete shock. Athrun had come for them as well. Just then Shinn came onto the bridge and floated over to Meyrin with a flash drive and put it in her hands and then turned to Lunamaria who was glaring at him.

"So I saved you earlier Miss Hawke," he said, "glad I could be of assistance." She ignored him and turned to her sister.

"I am glad all the operations went smoothly in the PLANTs," Meyrin said to Luna, "It's good to see you're still alive."

"Thanks sis," Lunamaria said.

"Now to the matter at hand," Athrun said, "ZAFT is clearly after you and you alone Lacus, they don't care about your children in this process as long as your brought to what they call 'justice.'"

"I don't think they'll be coming at again us just yet," Lacus said.

"No," Athrun reasoned, "but if we did, we now have the Impluse 2, Destiny and Infinite Justice to protect the Eternal. Plus there is the power of the Minerva. We do need to decide where we are going from here."

"We need to continue our course to the Clyne faction base before we decide anything," Waltfeld said, "with the Eternal in such bad shape it can not enter the atmosphere and we can not send it ahead on its own without any protection."

"Then we will discuss the matter of the children later," Athrun said, "for now lets just be glad we all made it through."

* * *

"Sir we are approaching the Mars base," a bridge member stated.

"Very good," the Captain said looking out of the window at the vastness of space. It had taken them much longer to get here than he had anticipated and at this moment he wondered what was going on in the PLANTs. Perhaps it had been foolish for him to leave so suddenly, but the leads they had gotten were very important to unraveling the mystery that had been plaguing the world for so long.

Kira Yamato had been in many battles but nothing could prepare him for the one that was coming. An alert sounded through the ship.

"Captain! Mobile suits are launching from the abandoned site!" a bridge member yelled.

"Then it obviously wasn't abandoned!" Kira responded. "Load all missile launchers and tell the pilots to standby." Suddenly the units made lunges for the docks of the ship blowing holes into the mobile suit bays in a suicide attack. Kira yelled for the missile teams to fire but none of the missiles hit the targets. Suddenly two shuttles flew right into the hangar of the ship.

Many things happened and in seemingly no time men with guns had filled the bridge and the crew of the Liberty had no choice but to surrender.

* * *

**I am glad I finally finished this chapter. It took awhile as I was discouraged with the lack of reviews I have been getting on this story. I had planned to put it on hold for awhile but I got a little excided and inspired yesterday so I finished the chapter and edited it this morning. I hope it doesn't seem too rushed as I was really excited while writing it. Final Kira has come into the picture.**

**Now I want Feedback. Please Review and tell me what you think of the Plot so far, of my OC's and I really want to know what you think of Meiko as she is very important to the central arc of the story. so PLEASE PLEASE review!**

**-WintersChill  
**


	8. Fading Out

**Phase 7: Fading Out**

**Back from vacation finally but I'm getting ready to go to school so updates may be slow.  
**

* * *

Meiko walked calmly down the hall of the Prejudice. She had just been called up for another mission briefing. She wore civilian clothes as she had been asked not to come in uniform. Her long red hair was divided into three sections; half of it had been brought up into two ponytails while the other half hung down. Her clothes were Black and Red. She hoped that whatever this mission was it did not include any killing; she did believe in the ideals of Liene but she didn't believe in his methods. She stepped into the briefing room and saw that a few other officers were with Gilligan and recognized one of them as her mobile suit trainer Mike Shurstre whom she had not seen in three years. She didn't know why she had not been allowed to she him but the real reason was that some of the higher officers had complained that his training was the reason Meiko couldn't face the people she killed.

"Meiko!" Mike said with enthusiasm, "you've grown up so much since the last time I saw you." He reached a hand forward and she took it smiling.

"Enough Mike," Gilligan glared, "if I had my way you wouldn't be here right now but orders are orders." Gilligan signaled Trey who was standing by a projector and some imaged appeared on screen. "This is the nation of ORB." Meiko recognized it and sighed, if they were attacking ORB she wanted nothing to do with it; that particular nation was known for its powerful weapons and strength.

"Your mission will be to pose as a student in this nation," Gillagan began with annoyance in his voice, "in order to determine whether or not the nation is helping Lacus Clyne." Meiko looked at them in shock, they had never sent her on an undercover mission before. She had the skills it took and she had always wanted one but they had told her time and time again that her aggressive fighting skills were necessary on the battlefield.

"You mean," she stared then she remembered the point of the mission, "how am I sup-post to do that?"

"You'll find out," Mike said, "which is why I suggested that they send you." Gilligan glared at Mike again who smiled with satisfaction, the two were constantly in a power struggle every time they saw each other so it was nothing new for anyone else around. "I'm going to escort you into ORB and set you up there."

"Are you ready for this mission, Miss Virea," Gilligan asked standing up straighter, "you can refuse it if you wish to stay on the battlefield." Trey rolled his eyes as he watched his commanding officer try to intimidate Mieko into choosing to stay with his crew, she had a much stronger mind than he realized at this point. Truth be told no one but Trey really knew of her dissatisfaction with the organization, they saw her as their mindless puppet and if they really knew how much she understood they wouldn't be so quick to send her into ORB.

"No," Meiko said with a hint of sass in her voice, she wanted to escape the killing and some time off would give her that chance, "I want to do this." She smiled with a hint of satisfaction and Gilligan's glare.

"You do remember that you are part of this organization," another officer said, "and your actions will be watched."

"Of course," Meiko said grinning again.

"Good," Gilligan said, "because Master Liene himself is expected to be at our secret base near ORB soon. We do not know when but soon enough." Meikos joy suddenly faded, this was meant to be a way to escape the past and how could she do that if Liene was right on her doorstep? Memories of him filled her head as she remembered how controlling and minipulating he could be. She never knew who she was around him, not that she knew who she was now but around him she couldn't understand anything but what he told her.

"You will leave tomorrow with officer Mike Shurstre," Gilligan said, "meeting adjourned." As Meiko exited Trey followed her.

"Wait!" He said.

"What?" Meiko turned around suddenly shocking him with her snappy anger.

"I just want to wish you luck," Trey sighed.

"What is the real reason behind this mission," Meiko spoke allowed, "is it some sort of test of my loyalty?"

"ROW believes that ORB and Cagalli Yula Attha may be behind the rescue of the Eternal in space," Trey responded, "and if that is true then Lacus Clyne will seek shelter in ORB. To discover whether or not that is true you only need to befriend Uzumi Zala and get invited into their home."

"Will I ever escaped that blasted ship," she said with tears entering her eyes, "yes I want peace, as much as anyone else in the world! But I just don't understand what these people have done wrong." With that she stormed away back to her quarters, she wanted to forget Liene was coming for the next few hours.

* * *

Through her large screen she saw the whole world in greater perspective than anyone else could. The ROW attacks had been staged perfectly along the European coast line and soon the entire continent of Eurasia would have problems if ZAFT didn't step in like they had promised. She gritted her teeth as she scanned the screen again. This was going to be hard to deal with, even with the number of redemption agents growing daily. She would have to order the elite to double their efforts, but could she when she was already pushing them so hard?

She picked up a picture that sat on her desk and sighed, there was a time when her life seemed to be rebounding back into happiness. She had been deceived into believing a lie back then and she wondered how many others were believing the lie now. Her mind had been weak once but thankfully she had broken out of that and finally discovered everything about ROW. She might have been one of the most dangerous tools if she had remained in ROW as an agent, she wondered if Liene even would have kept her alive.

"Milady," her faithful commander stood there once again.

"What is it now," she said softly breaking out of her reminisce of the past.

"An unforeseen development has just come about," he replied walking closer to the screen, "and I think that it calls for one of our interventions." He laid a piece of paper containing the information in front of her and she looked back at him with shock on her face.

"So that's where..." she started and he cut her off.

"Our spy has confirmed that this information is true," he walked a few paces around the room, "and using advanced surveillance hacking I took that photo, and it's genuine." He looked at his leader and she seemed to be lost in her own mind. She wondered how she could have missed this development, it made no sense.

"All this time, he was investigating ROW without anyone knowing," she sighed, "It shows how I can't predict everything." It disturbed her when she made mistakes as large as this, what if one day she made the mistake that would cost her the world? She had strived for perfection throughout her life and her troops held up her every word as truth. She didn't want to ever be wrong but she was only human and a natural, what she had achieved in her intelligence was impressive to begin with. Her faithful commander walked back toward her desk, he had more to show her than just that, something he knew would cheer her up.

"In other news Milady the new target is being watched carefully," he said laying another stack of papers down in front of her and crossing his arms. "I believe this is the one you've been after." Milady looked at the images in front of her and all doubts left her mind, she had found what she had been looking for these past sixteen years.

"I can't believe it," she said as tears came to her eyes, "we're that much closer."

"Anything else you need," He said.

"No," she responded standing up, "thank you Yzak. Your service to me has been invaluable these past few years."

"What actions will we take Milady," he said bowing slightly.

"We need to change the situation on Mars," she said, "we can't afford to loose one piece in the puzzle if we hope to understand the bigger picture." With that she left Yzak to ponder the meaning of her phrase. He went and turned off the large computer monitor before walking down the hall himself. All the years he had spent here working towards the great goal of peace were finally going to mean something. He had made the mistake of missing the bigger picture before and he was sure that he would never do it again.

His thoughts turned to Kira. He sure looked a lot different than the last time Yzak had seen him at Gibralter, from what he heard Kira had four kids now too. He remembered the last time he had saved Kira's neck from an assassination attempt. Those were the good old days when the actions Redemption took were reckless but necessary. It seemed those days were ready to return now that Kira had gotten himself into a mess on Mars. Yzak chuckled to himself, this job was getting crazier and crazier. What actions would Redemption take regarding Kira and the new target?

* * *

Leyas looked around the room and quickly identified it as the medical center on the Eternal. She heard the rhythmic beeping of the heart machine as she realized she was hooked up to a number of things. What was she doing here? Suddenly memories of the battle filled her mind, and the danger they were in. She had been unable to breathe there on the bridge and she was fighting to keep consciousness for the sake of her family. The presence that had entered her mind had caused her to black out suddenly and that must have been how she ended up here.

"Is anyone there," she said hoping someone could come an explain to her what was now happening around her.

"Shhh," she heard a voice she knew well and sat up as Uzumi walked into her line of slight, "It's alright, we made it."

"What?" Leyas asked looking around in a bit of shock.

"Help came," Uzumi said, "some dear friends saved us." Leyas knew he was telling the truth for his eyes were sparkling with happiness, her cousin was so readable it was funny sometimes. Leyas smiled looking toward the machines she was hooked up to.

"Is there something wrong with me?" she asked in a slightly sarcastic tone. She felt totally fine and these machines were beginning to bug her a little.

"Oh yeah," Uzumi said walking to one, "I am sup-post to be keeping an eye on you in case you wake up, we've bee watching you in shifts." He laughed for a second, "guess I kinda forgot why I was here."

"Funny," Leyas said with mocking sarcasm before laughing herself, "how long was I out exactly?"

"About 8 hours, I think," Uzumi replied, "but I wouldn't be the best person to ask, Kiran knows what time it was when you passed out. He's been in and out of here like crazy the past few hours! Your mom had to tell him to stop pestering those who had been placed in this room to watch you." Leyas smiled at the mention of her twin brother, he seemed to think that as her twin it was his job to protect her, it was quite funny sometimes since he was still pretty small. It was quite funny when Yaro and him used to get into fights and he would try to punch Yaro, being younger all Yaro had to do was hold him back until mother showed up. She suddenly remembered Yaro had been in danger when she fell unconscious.

"How is Yaro?" Leyas asked, "all I remember is he was fighting that machine."

"Oh yeah," Uzumi replied thinking, "those ROW agents left in a hurry a bit after you passed out and we had a slight run-in with a PLANT advance fleet before being rescued by..." He saw Leyas's shocked face looking toward the door and he turned to see what she was looking at. Athrun stood there holding back laughter at his nieces shocked face.

"Uncle Athrun?" Leyas said with confusion. He was one of her favorite family members and as a little girl he spoiled her ever time she had gone to ORB, giving her whatever she wanted. Leyas hadn't seen any of the family except Uzumi for almost two years.

"How is little Kira?" Athrun responded using the nickname he had always called her; Leyas did look the most like Kira out of anyone in her family, "you've had your mother so worried for the past few hours that Kayla had to sing her a lullaby to get her to go to sleep."

"Well since an adult is here," Leyas said, "can I get off the machines?"

"I don't see why not," Athrun replied, "the doctor said there was nothing wrong with you. You just went unconscious somehow and he wanted to keep you monitored just in case something happened if you didn't wake up." Leyas needed no more info as she removed the wires from herself. She stood up and stretched her arms, Athrun looked at Uzumi and waved his head for him to leave. Uzumi was instantly obedient and walked out.

"Don't get to ahead of yourself," Athrun said sitting on a chair and motioning for her to sit back down on the examination table.

"What is it?" Leyas said, "I feel perfectly fine."

"It doesn't matter how you feel now," Athrun stated, "I am more interested in what exactly happened on the bridge. It doesn't seem like anyone around here knows. Were you scared or stressed?" Leyas looked down remembering the feeling that entered her mind and fought to enter her thoughts.

"It's nothing like that," she replied, "in fact I'm not even sure what it was and I don't think you'd know either."

"I still want to hear it," Athrun said, "I know if your dad were here he'd want to know as well. You'll learn through life that it never pays to keep important things from people, there is something about your unconsciousness that reminds me of something I heard of once."

"Then," Leyas responded, "I'll tell you." She gulped before starting, she didn't want to sound crazy, "I know this will seem odd but when we were in battle Yaro was fighting a machine called The Pain. Him and the machine's battle got close to the ship and suddenly I felt someone's presence enter my mind; I don't know how to explain it but I felt a lot of pain as my mind seemed to open up and I felt something coming." Athrun listened to every word, "but it hurt so much that I saw a way to escape the pain and I fell unconscious." Everything registered in his mind as he tried to understand what had happened. He remembered that Kiran said that soon after Leyas had gone unconscious Kayla had entered looking strange and Lacus had affirmed his suspicions that Kayla had used the Seed. It shocked him that at her young age she ha used it even though it made sense that all the children had it since Kira and Lacus both possessed it.

"Did you feel any sort of explosions in your head? " Athrun asked wondering if for a slip second Leyas might have grabbed the SEED as well, "anything else out of the ordinary?"

"No," Leyas said with her eyes looking cloudy, "wait." He looked at her intently, "I saw a glow and there was something right before I feel unconscious. An explosion of something and after it had finished I saw images of something. I can't remember what." Athrun was a little distressed by this, in his experience the SEED only caused focus and greater ability to sense what was going on around you. The SEEDs that these two girls possessed made them aware of what was happening in the distance as well as nearby; Kayla had seen the ships coming and Leyas had seen something else. He had heard of reactions where some pilots were able to feel when familiar people are near them, Kira seemed to have those reactions a lot now. Was there something about the pilot of the Pain that was familiar to the girls? Was it just them reacting to pressure and the minds of each other?

"Can you remember anything?" Athrun asked, "anything of what you saw?"

"There was..." Leyas concentrated trying to call back the images, "a man dressed in a yellow uniform and... I saw my dad, standing somewhere strange. I don't know what else was there. I can't understand it." Leyas gripped her head and let out a small cry; Athrun quickly stood up and grabbed her in a hug.

"It's alright," he said, "just relax. You'll be alright."

"I'm sorry," she said, "it's just so hard." Athrun let go of her and looked her in the eye.

"Just forget it all," he said, "your mother has been worried about you, let's go show her your okay." Leyas nodded.

* * *

"There are countless number of citizens gathered here today to witness the official statement of Representative Cagalli Yula Attha about the recent events in space," Miriallia Haw reported to channels all over the nation of ORB, "rumors have been circulating that she has been somehow involved in Lacus Clyne's escape from the PLANT's only five days ago. Today she is expected to refute those claims and re-state the mission of ORB as a nation and here is the Representative now." Cagalli walked out from behind the stage and stepped up to the podium, this moment was very important in the life of her nation and though she hated taking this stand, it was all together very important.

"Greetings to all the citizens of ORB and to those who have come from around the world," Cagalli began with a smile, "five days ago the PLANT supreme council voted to arrest their leader and long time ally of ORB Lacus Clyne and failed at the task. I plan on telling you things like they are right away since there is nothing to hide. This nation, the nation of ORB has been neutral to the affairs of other nations for a very long time now and we have succeeded in bringing peace to you our citizens. My father, Uzumi Nara Attha died for his belief in staying out of the conflicts of other nations.

"As many of you are aware we have been accused of intervening in the capture of Lacus Clyne for personal reasons. Yes, it is true that she and I have been very good friends over the years having similar goals in promoting peace we have supported each other but in this time of turmoil we have grown apart. The Lacus Clyne I know would not have approved the Military Intervention Act which has allowed ZAFT forces to intervene in the many civil wars around the world. I say this to you now the nation of ORB has had nothing to do with the intervention of Lacus Clyne's capture nor the rumors that the Minerva has reappeared.

"As to the rumors that my husband, Athrun Zala is away at this time I say to you that he has not been feeling well enough to make a public appearance at this time. I ask you nations of the world to lay off of suspicions that ORB is responsible for the escape of your fugitive. We do not agree with her, we did not rescue her and we are not harboring her.

"As to the matters of my nation, I say that in this time of great unrest we are stronger than ever. We will hold to the mandate laid out by our founders, we will not attack another nation, we will not allow another nation to attack us and we will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations.

"As to the intervention in the PLANT's my personal ship acted in good faith to stop the spread of the terrorist group ROW. This group is clearly against peace and I ask the nations of the world to throw off ROW's ideals for the sake of peace. We should not harbor hard feelings against each other based on whether or not we are different. This anger that is spreading through the world has to stop and though we will not intervene through military force we will continue to send aid to all those countries that have been ravaged by this war.

"I offer my deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones and I ask you to hold to the truth and not to let hatred invade your souls. Please enjoy the rest of your days and rest now that you know peace will continue to reign here for the time being." With that Cagalli stepped off the podium shocking the many people there.

Cagalli addressed many issues but she did not address something that had been going through their minds for many days. There was photo evidence that the prince of ORB, Uzumi Zala was in the PLANTs at the time of Lacus Clyne's escape. Cagalli did not insist that he was home, nor did she say anything about him being gone. Many people missed him and wondered why he had not made a public appearance.

Miriallia sighed as she watched the speech come to an end. She knew that what Cagalli had said was true, the nation of ORB had not intervened in the capture of Lacus Clyne but she also knew that Cagalli had. Cagalli acted independently of the nation when she sent the Minerva which was a secret only known by her, its crew members and those who were still attached to the Archangel. Mir wondered if her own ship would be launching soon as well, as the world collided downwards would the angel rise again?

* * *

Trey watched as Meiko entered the small shuttle that would take her to earth with a little worry in his eyes. Sure a time away from the battlefield is what Meiko needed but at the same time she would be alone without anyone to lean on, not that she ever leaned on anyone in the first place. She was so guarded, so afraid of friendship and he could never understand why. He saw her as the little sister he never had and he was very protective over the redhead.

He had lost his family in a tragic indecent when he was ten and ever since then he had been scared by war. When he joined ROW it was because he had met Meiko in a small Eurasian military camp where she had been posted along with few other ROW agents to help aid the government against civil war breaking out in certain areas. What shocked him about her was her age, she was 13 at the time a year younger than he and she was fighting in the military. When handed a gun she was deadly and strong yet she somehow lacked the gut to fire it without being threatened if she didn't. Her superiors were always trying to get the better of her compassion but it would never go.

Shortly after he met her he saw her caring for a younger child whose parents had been killed in the fighting and at that moment he realized that she had a caring heart. Ever since joining ROW he often wondered how Meiko had come to the twisted organization. He got the sense that the organization somehow owned her and that they were biding their time with her waiting for something to happen. He never could understand what.

"Too bad our little fighter is going off on a ground mission," Gilligan sighed, "without her we'll be reporting back to base 1 as our fighting strength is considerably weakened."

"She'll be alright," Trey said, "and I have no doubt that her mission will go smoothly."

"She is a treasure of a weapon isn't she," Gilligan smiled cruelly.

"She's a human," Trey grumbled, "not a weapon."

"Only in your eyes," the general replied, "she is a coordinator and therefore good for nothing but fighting. Sometime soon that will all change and the world will know the power of ROW." Trey looked at him confused, did all the main operations somehow rest in the power of that girl? Anger grew within him as he thought of Meiko being used as a weapon. He would do everything in his power to save her even if it meant severing ties with ROW and dealing with what was called the "devil" by all ROW agents, the unpredictable and dangerous Redemption. Maybe this was the only way to save Meiko from herself. He quickly put the thoughts out of his mind telling himself that he could consider it later, dealing with Redemption could not be an easy task. They kept themselves hidden from the world, only intervening occasionally and always at the right time to stop ROW. They were very secretive and their existence was not known by many, if he did ever want to turn to them he was sure they would not trust him.

* * *

"It seems we have a huge dilemma on our hands," Athrun told Lacus as the sat alone on the bridge of the Eternal. Lacus sighed, she knew what he was talking about. It seemed she would not be going to earth any time soon, and she wished she could do something more for the planet but there was no way with her current fighting strength.

"I can't go back to ORB with you," Lacus replied, "it would endanger your nation too much if I was discovered there." She looked down, though she really wanted to go to the nation and see Cagalli she knew she could not, there was no way.

"But you can't keep the kids in a mobile suit factory," Athrun reasoned, "they need to continue their studies." He knew that the kids would be fine in space but he knew Kira wouldn't want them around the military for months. Kira had tried to sheild his kids from ever having to fight in war although he had taught Yaro enough about a mobile suit that he could fight in one.

"Are you suggesting that I send them to ORB?" Lacus asked.

"Yes," Athrun said with a sureness in his voice, "I will personally handle their homeschooling as to keep them away from the public eye. You can't keep them locked up here in space, they are just children."

"To think we were fighting on the front lines near that age," Lacus sighed, "I was younger than Yaro when I made my move to steal the Eternal." It seemed so long ago in her mind, the war was much simpler then because there were only two sides. This new war seemed to have endless amounts of factions waring with each other. What was it that drove them all to this madness? Why did they all seek to kill and hate each other? Couldn't people learn to at least tolerate one another. She had believed the world could learn love once but after so many times of setting it right she was growing weary of it constantly turning back to war.

"But we all agreed years ago that we wouldn't let our children loose everything that we did," Athrun replied, "we never wanted them to feel everything we did at our young age."

"I know," She looked out toward space remembering the sadness that filled her heart when she lost her father, now she wondered if her kids would soon feel that pain. Kira had not made any sort of contact with them and she wondered where he was and what he was doing. She loved him so deeply and she knew that she needed him, especially now that everything was crumbling beneath her. She had no choice but to listen to Athrun, he was one of her closest friends over the years.

"What will you do now?" Athrun asked her looking around the broken ship.

"I will repair it," she said, "and I will make it stronger. I am not sure I will ever return to the PLANTs though, I don't know exactly how I will continue."

"Cagalli is launching a plan," Athrun said, "the Minerva is part of it. We are intervening in the nations ravaged by war near ORB. We can no longer turn a blind eye to it all, already ROW controls thee major nations and is getting near to controlling many more. I know it's reckless and that it may cause more harm than good."

"No," Lacus said, "I think it's good, I think the world needs someone to show them the light."

"What about the kids Lacus," he asked her now, he need to know what she was going to do with them, "they simply can not stay here, they are your legacy and they must be safe."

"Then take them Athrun," she said bowing her head in resignation, "keep them safe. Kira would want you to, I know that this is the right thing to do."

"Do you know where Kira is now?" Athrun asked her, he had known nothing about Kira's leaving till after he had gone and Athrun somehow knew it wasn't the right thing to do in this time. Kira should have stayed with his family, maybe then things might have been different. When the freedom entered the battlefield people might have listened.

"No," she replied as tears filled her eyes, "but I know he's alive, for my heart can still feel him somehow."

* * *

_He saw them. As the giant ZAFT ship exploded suddenly the faces of every life on the ship flashed before his eyes begging for mercy. He moved to try and save them but nothing in his mobile suit responded. He cried out screaming to himself that it wasn't his fault but he couldn't escape it. Something within him had caused this! Sorrow welled up within him but in that moment the ship was gone._

_His mobile suit floated around space and yet no one was there. No one. He looked around and in the distance he saw a light, a small but real light. He reached out for it once again trying to get his Gundam to respond to his movements. He heard a voice crying for help. He saw his family and he saw a large weapon pointed at them. He saw it fire and he saw them all die._

Yaro woke up quickly from the dream and looked around the small room he shared with Uzumi. It was just a dream, a dream and nothing more he told himself over and over again.

"Are you alright Yaro," he heard Uzumi's voice and saw that he had woken the younger boy up.

"It's just," Yaro had a bit of trouble continuing but in his experiencing hiding things never helped in getting over pain, "I killed them. Those people in that ship! I don't know what happened I just felt something within me and it just..."

"Yaro," Uzumi said, "did you want to kill them?"

"NO!" Yaro replied abruptly, of course he didn't want to kill them. He hated the idea of war and killing, he hated himself for killing them.

"Then don't think about it," Uzumi said looking down, "it was a tragic accident, and if you let it beat you, you'll never be able to go on living. My father and your father have both killed in their pasts but if they thought about it even now they wouldn't be able to press on for the future. I know it's hard but you can't let your mistake wound your soul or else you will never be able to escape the past, you will become a prisoner of it and you will never know the joy of the future."

"You're right," Yaro said agreeing with his cousin. Though it hurt and though he wished he could take it back he couldn't. "It's just I don't think I'll be able to forget it anytime soon."

"It's what makes human," Uzumi said, "if we loose that ability to feel when a life is taken, then we loose our souls as well." He spoke with such authority and such truth that Yaro was amazed what he said. He knew his cousin had an ability to make it through most any situation but the young boys general wisdom was still shocking even after many years of friendship.

* * *

Meiko watched as the clouds around her rolled by the windows of the shuttle she was on. She breathed in as she took in the sight of ORB, she had been there once before but never for as long of a stay as she would get this time. The nation was so peaceful that it seemed to give of that peace to anyone visiting it. She wished she could forget everything at this moment but the memories of her mission were very fresh in her mind.

Would she ever have any freedom? What was this never ending stream of missions doing to her life, it was as if someone was trying to break her very soul. Everything was suffocating and she knew she wouldn't be able to go on like this forever.

Mike Shurstre watched her carefully taking note of her constantly troubled expression. The girl he had trained was still there beneath all the things that ROW had done to make her a solider, she was still just a young girl with the same desires as any teenager. He was glad Liene agreed to take her off the battlefield, for if she remained there Mike feared what would happen to her. Everything depended on Meiko surviving, and if she was pushed to far he feared that he would loose his student and his mission would fail.

* * *

**YEA! I finally got this chapter finished. I'm sorry for the huge wait. Now things are starting to go into motion. Sorry for all those who want Kira, phase 9 will go more into detail of his situation. Phase 8 may have some of him as well. I may not be able to update this very often because school is starting next week, but I will update whenever I can. Thanks for reading and please REVIEW and tell me what you think about the characters, the plot, the mobile suits and anything else as well.**

**REVIEW!!!**

**-WintersChill  
**


	9. Breathing

**Authors Note. I feel like there are some things I should say. The story has been kinda dramaless for a reason at this point, be assured there is a lot more coming. This is going to be like any Gundam Series with romance, tension and there is absolutely some character death. The fate of each character was pretty much sealed when I first outlined the story so that is something to be warned about if you have a love of any particular character. Also no type of character is safe, even characters from Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny may be killed off along with some of my OC's. Feel free to make predictions about the plot but I am set on keeping the main details secret. If you wish to ask questions and want to know certain things about the plot then e-mail me at onlinegal20yahoo dot com. And for those of you who didn't understand in the last chapter Yzak is a high ranking officer in Redemption which is why no one knows where he ended up. With that cleared up enjoy the next chapter.**

**On another important note, I started a prequel for this story called "The Gibralter Incident" about what happened in Gibralter since I keep making references to it. I planned on starting it later but I decided that now was good enough and I really wanted to write a romantic scene because the romance in this story is still a few chapters away I think. So if your interested in more of my GSR history then read that story. Updates may be slow but its a start of an explanation.  
**

* * *

Phase 8: Breathing

* * *

"Docking Stage 1 complete, welcome Eternal," a female voice said over the radio as her face appeared on the screen, "we're glad your safe. Every Clyne Faction member has checked in as well, we're all safe."

"Shiho Hahnefuss," Lacus Clyne spoke, "we are glad that you are safe as well. It seems that there is some light in our grave situation." Shiho was a high ranking Clyne Faction member and had been since the second Bloody Valentine war. As a part of the Joule team she had worked to escort Lacus Clyne to the PLANTs upon her return and later when she had her own team she had joined Lacus in retaking Gibralter years before.

When the Minerva and Eternal were both docked the crew and guests of the ships all were welcomed by a whole crowd of Clyne Faction members. Yaro smiled as he exited the ship of cheering people, they were all filled with joy at the sight of their leader back and safe. The Minerva crew got no less applause than the Eternal, as the rescuers of Lacus Clyne, they were hailed as heros in the faction. As Lacus Clyne approached a panel of commanding officers they all bowed and curtsied respectfully. Yaro recognized Shiho Hahnefuss, the former Chairman Yuri Amalfi and commander Hierian Verstrinea. Lacus curtsied before them in her commanders dress with Dearka Elsman and Andrew Waltfeld standing behind her. The kids stood behind them quietly and Lunamaria watched over them.

"Welcome Laucs," Amalfi spoke first, "the news of your unknown whereabouts for a while was a little distressing to say the least but we're glad your here now."

"The important thing is we're all safe," Lacus said, "I am glad nothing happened to any of you as you fled the PLANTs."

"Shiho had a bit of a rough time with her unit," Hierian responded, "but nothing she wasn't trained to handle." Shiho shot Hierian a slight glare before speaking up herself.

"I just had one ship chasing mine," she explained with a little bit of annoyance in her voice, "it's not like I had a whole PLANT flee after me." She clearly referenced what had almost caught up to the Eternal.

"Well we did," Andrew Waltfeld replied holding up his hands, "and it was one crazy miracle that we made it out in one piece. If we hadn't had Yaro and Uzumi we wouldn't have lasted to the point where the Minerva found us."

"So you used the two prototypes," Amalfi said looking from Watlfedt to Lacus.

"Yes," Lacus responded, "but like the old machines they run out of power too quickly, even with Mega-Trans Phase Shift. I want them to be outfitted with the new G system and N Jammer Cancellors as soon as possible. We have to be prepared for anything in this, it seems another full scale war is on its way and we have no way of knowing whether we are really safe here."

"You know that breaks the treaty we made at Gibralter," Amalfi said in response, "We agreed with a large group of nations that we would no longer manufacture mobile suits with the N Jammer Cancellor system." Lacus knew that well, she had been mostly responsible the treaty, hoping that if they banned the N-Jammer cancellor system that nuclear warfare would disappeared completely but needless to say it had not. There had been rumors of a government in northern Eurasia that had Nuked one it's own towns that was believed to be under the influence of ROW. Kira had not been able to use the strike freedom for anything over they years since it was still using the system. Lacus knew all too well what re implementing the N-Jammer cancellor system might invite but who really would know? The Clyne faction was known for its many advances and they had perfected the system in such a way that it worked very differently from previous versions.

"The PLANTs agreed under your leadership and my leadership," Lacus replied, "now that our faction no longer belongs to ZAFT we are outside the treaty and we have much to accomplish." She knew they couldn't go into battle with those power dependent mobile suits any longer. Their operations would need to be efficient.

"What exactly are you planning?" Shiho asked.

"To defeat ROW," Athrun said as the group from the Minerva entered the conversation. Athrun was followed by Captain Meyring Hawke and Commander Shinn Auska.

"Athrun Zala!" Amalfi spoke with surprise, Athrun was sup-post to be in ORB, "In her address Cagalli assured the nation that you were in ORB, what are you doing here?"

"I was," Athrun said, "and I will be soon though I wasn't at the time of the address. For the sake of everything we have worked for Cagalli found it necessary to lie to her country for the first time in her life. I had to accompany the Minerva personally."

"What she said about ORB was true though," Meyrin said, "we are not part of the ORB military but rather we are a private sector known only by Cagalli and a few officials in Morganrate. Our development was started years ago in secret." Everyone thought about it for a moment and it made sense. Lunamaria, Shinn and Meyrin had all quit ZAFT at different times through the years and it made sense that they would have gone on to something else, something much more important than the ZAFT military. Cagalli had wrapped a nice little package of talent into the Minerva when she had it reconstructed. There was a silence for a moment as everyone thought it over.

"Well you must all be exhausted," Hierian said summoning forward a few officers, "rest for the next few hours in peace."

"I don't think we'll be resting," Athrun said motioning to his crew, "we need our ship resupplied immediately. We're heading back to earth."

"So soon?" Hierian asked, "are you sure."

"Yes," Athrun said, "I am positive, there is too much at stake for me to leave Cagalli defending her nation alone for now," he then turned to Lacus, "we have to talk to the kids."

"Yeah I know," Lacus looked down at the ground for a moment, she had not been separated from her children for more than a night in the past; not having them near her would be hard especially with Kira gone but she knew it was for the better, "I know." She repeated herself letting it sink in, this was not going to be easy.

* * *

"No, I'm not going!" Yaro protested as Athrun, Lacus, Uzumi and the other three Yamato children all sat in a room together discussing what Lacus and Athrun had planned. Uzumi sighed as Yaro once again protested the idea of going to ORB rather than staying and protecting his mother. Yaro was a stubborn child and the argument was not unlike him.

"Yes Yaro you are going as well," Lacus said for the second time.

"NO!" Yaro protested, "with father gone you need someone to protect you! I'm not leaving you up here alone."

"She won't be alone," Athrun said in an angry tone. He was usually composed at the kids rarely saw him angry, "your mother is now in a highly defended advanced military base Yaro and you do well to remember that Kira trusted my judgment and I believe you must come down to ORB to look after your siblings if for nothing else." Yaro was silent thinking about what had just been said; it was true that Kira would want him to follow whatever Athrun had planned, Kira had trusted Athrun's judgment more than anyone elses throughout these sixteen years of peace.

"The worlds plunging into war," Leyas spoke up, "are we supposed to remain silent hidden away like we've done something wrong?"

"You're children not soldiers," Lacus said, "and this is not a battle for you to fight." Wrong thing to say; Athrun sighed as he predicted the next comments to be made.

"But what if we want to fight!" Leyas insisted, "for the future of our world. Mother you fought when you were near our ages, why can't we stay."

"Leyas," Kiran grabbed her arm. Leyas shot him a warning glance. Athrun groaned as Lacus put her head in her hands.

"I don't think the issue has anything to do with what we want," Uzumi said with calmness, "we have every right to fight if that is what we wish, but none of us are really ready to fight. I mean besides me none of us have really had training in this area."

"No but..." Yaro was interrupted by Uzumi continuing.

"I propose a compromise that will benefit us all," Uzumi said.

"What?" Lacus asked seeking a way to calm her family down.

"We will all go to ORB..." He began.

"NO!" Leyas protested. This time Athrun gave her a look, being Leyas she wanted her uncles approval so she quieted down letting Uzumi speak.

"We will all go to ORB," he continued, "and then you will allow us to build up our skills and enroll on ORB's small student military school."

"Absolutely not!" Lacus protested. Athrun looked a little lost in thought.

"That would allow you to have the skills to defend yourselves later on," Athrun said as if he was thinking out loud, "it could be beneficial since this war isn't getting any smaller."

"But Athrun..." Athrun smiled as Lacus tried to protest now. Her and her children were so much a like and he had seen many times in the past where Lacus had lost her usual composure. The twins both had this side of her while Kayla never lost her temper, never had an attitude and never was really afraid. The young innocence of Kayla was a light to the others in the family and now as circumstances darkened it would be needed to guide the way through many things.

"Your children are not known as Yamato's in ORB," Ahtrun continued, "in fact not much is known about your kids. To ORB you are the only member of the family. Not ever Leyas's records were published outside the PLANTs. Under the name Yamato your kids would be safe."

"I don't want to go to military school," Kayla said, "but I will go to normal school in ORB."

"That's not the only issue Athrun!" Lacus said.

"What is the other issue?" Athrun asked in a reasonable voice.

"I don't want them fighting!" she declared, "I hate war! I don't want us going to war!"

"Like it or not we are in the middle of a war already," Athrun said holding his tone back from anger, "Lacus your children must learn to protect themselves. Things won't be the same as they were when we were young." He saw tears in her eyes at the mention of the past. There had been to much heartache, too much pain and too much anger for them back then. They had been forced to face the world and to fight against their friends in the name of peace. Athrun, Kira, Lacus and Cagalli had all been forced to fight for their world and it had scarred them all. All of them had become orphans and Kira had discovered that he was an orphan. Athrun put an hand on her shoulder.

"None of us had anyone to help us," he said, "we are here for our children and we're not going anywhere." The kids could only watch in this moment as they saw their mother cry for the first time. They were touched in that moment, they wanted so much to comfort their mother.

"I give in," Leyas said, "I'll go do whatever you want. I'll go to ORB and I'll go to a normal school if that's what you want." Yaro was a little less ready to give in. He jumped at the opportunity to get further training in a mobile suit. He wouldn't promise to stay away from military school. Brushing a hand through his black hair he spoke.

"I'll go to ORB," he said.

* * *

"No I want it outfitted with the beta system," Lunamaria said arguing with one of the engineers on the Minerva. She wasn't happy with the Impulse 2's current operating system and she wanted one that was easier for her to use; the beta ZAFT system one that she had also had a hand in designing.

"But it's not made for that," the man said.

"I have examined every area of its creation!" Lunamaria declared getting impatient, "It is clearly ready for it! It needs to be better if I am going to use it!" Shinn walked into the mobile suit bay and it was very clear what was going on, the argument was resounding throughout the place and making it pretty hard for the other engineers to get their work done. He walked over to the two and began to intervene.

"Luna calm down," he said and she turned to him with a fierce look of anger.

"Go away Shinn," she said, "this doesn't concern you." Maybe he deserved some of that spite but he really didn't want to deal with it now. Someone had to calm this girl down before she blew a fuse and sent the whole place in an uproar.

"I have no intention in leaving," he said in a hushed tone as he grabbed her arm. She shook him off and he turned to the engineer, "What is the problem?"

"She wants us to outfit her new machine with a system I don't believe will work on it," the man said and Shinn rolled his eyes. That was what was causing such a big fuss?

"Is it possible to test it?" Shinn asked, "Because if it doesn't work like you say you could always change it back. But if it does work..." Lunamaria stepped on his foot in that moment causing him to let out a yelp and causing everyone in the mobile suit bay to look toward them. Shinn turned bright red as people realized why he had yelped and at that moment Meyrin and Leyas had just floated in.

"What was that for!" Shinn almost yelled loosing his patience with the rambunctious girl; he wasn't going to be able to handle being her comrad on this ship through the coming missions if she insisted in behaving like this. He had kept his distance from Lunamaria Hawke for the past few years for a reason but now that things were crazy he was forced to work with her.

"For what happened at that restaurant," she spat back, "and for butting into my business, I can handle this without you thank you very much!"

"Okay Luna!" he said loosing his temper finally, "that's it. I try to be nice, I try to make up for the past but no matter what I do you seem determined to hold this grudge for the rest of your life!"

"Well that is because i want to," she said, "you were an awful boyfriend anyway!" Leyas was a little shocked at the watching the two of them argue, she had had no clue before that they had ever been in a relationship with each other. She had thought their little arguments were just a sign of rivalry. She looked at Meyrin who breathed out a sigh of annoyance. Those two were as different as night and day sometimes but other times they seemed perfect for each other; Leyas wondered why she had never noticed their obvious romantic tension earlier at reunions.

"There it goes again," Meyrin said rolling her eyes.

"Luna that was fourteen years ago!" he yelled, "just let it go already!" He stalked out of the bay and Lunamaria huffed in anger. She didn't even look at the engineer as she took a different door out. Leyas took this opportunity to ask Meyrin what was up.

"What was that about?" Leyas asked Meyrin.

"That is what happens when you never grow up after getting your heart broken," Meyring sighed, "they've been arguing about the same thing for fourteen years."

"What happened?" Leyas asked.

"Shinn and Lunamaria were together after the 2nd Bloody Valentine war," Meyrin began, "and a year after it they didn't get to see each other often because of duties and things like that. Well when they finally made an arrangement to see each other for dinner Shinn didn't show. Lunamaria waited in the restaurant for eight hours waiting for him. When he called two days later she didn't answer. She still hasn't listened to him explain it." Leyas almost laughed at the explanation; that was it?

"Why wasn't he there?" Leyas asked.

"The Gibralter treaty," Meyrin said and Leyas knew what she was talking about. The treaty that allied the PLANTs with several nations of the earth in the name of peace. It was signed shortly after her birth. "You see Shinn had been asked last minute to be at the meeting and he left ORB in a hurry. He forgot about his dinner with Luna and she's been cross at him ever since."

"That's really stupid," Leyas said.

"It is but at the same time it's kinda comical," Meyrin replied, "they're both so stubborn neither of them will ever admit that they were wrong."

* * *

Athrun stood in front of a large window looking out into space wondering about the future of his family and Kira's family. They would be leaving this base soon and heading to ORB. Something inside him told him that this was the right thing to do. He worried about Yaro and Uzumi. Yaro was so fixated on ending the war now that he failed to see the bigger picture of things and Uzumi was trying so hard to hold onto his faith that things would be alright. With the conflict thickening Athrun doubted that that would happen anytime soon. Athrun was proud of Uzumi, he was so very strong yet at the same time he was holding so much inside him. The boy held everything inside and tried his best to help others where Yaro let everything out. The two were best friends, but Uzumi would never admit his fears to the older boy; he would never admit his fears to anyone.

"So," Shinn said walking to stand beside Athrun breaking him out of his mixed thoughts.

"What," Athrun asked him.

"Have you heard anything about Kira?" Shinn asked truly wondering about his friend, "do you have any idea where he is."

"No," Athrun sighed, "we're not even sure he is alive. So many people have gone missing investigating ROW its unsure whether figuring them out is even possible."

"Why did he go?" Shinn asked with a hint of anger in his voice, "surely he knew what was happening in the PLANTs. With Lacus in danger it just amazes me that he still decided to leave."

"I think we'd have to ask Kira to understand why he left," Athrun replied, "I don't get it either. It's so unlike him. Lacus said that he had been talking about it for awhile but one day he just decided to act. Who knows what drove him to it."

"Maybe he suspected that ROW was behind the recent calls for Lacus's removal," Shinn said, "if he left to stop them then everything makes sense."

"Who knows," Athrun replied, "whats more important is those ROW machines. If Yaro and Uzumi hadn't been in better machines I am sure that those pilots would have taken them out."

"Why do you think that?" Shinn asked

"I analyzed the battle data and that one machine, the Pain had a pilot of incredible skill," Athrun replied, "I'd say whoever it was could be easily pitted against one of us with the ability to win under the right circumstances. I'm not sure if I've ever seen such reckless and effective tactics. Whoever he was took down Dearka in a sheer 2 minutes and 32 seconds flat."

"I hope she dose not get progressively better over time," Shin responded, "or you might get shot down."

"And you wouldn't?" Athrun asked.

"Never," Shinn responded,.

"Hey, You've been shot down before," Athrun said defensively.

"By you!" he replied, "Like any outsider could take us out. Me, You and Kira are the only ones who can shot each other down."

"You should go through that data," Athrun replied ignoring Shinn's statements, "It has me worried. We have no way of knowing how advanced ROW's weaponry may become and with someone like that. We're in for trouble."

* * *

"Minerva departing in ten minutes," the loudspeaker through the hangar rang. Lacus stood in front of her four children with tears in her eyes as she prepared to send them away for the first time. She had always been close to her children, keeping them with her wherever she went. It was hard for her to let them go most likely because she fought so hard to ensure they would not suffer the way she did without either of her parents with her through the later parts of her teenage years.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Lacus whispered to Athrun who walked by her toward the entrance to the Minerva.

"It's the right thing to do," Athrun said putting a hand on her shoulder, "don't worry me and Cagalli will take care of them Lacus, they'll be safer down there than the will be up here."

"I know," she said wiping her eyes before turning to say goodbye.

"We'll be alright mother," Kayla spoke up with a slight smile though she was torn apart from this approaching separation. Kayla was very close to her mother and she was honestly afraid to be without her mother for this time. When would she see her again? Lacus hugged her youngest holding her close.

"I know you will sweetheart," she looked at her little girl with a reassuring smile before turning to Leyas next.

"I'll miss you mother," Leyas said hugging her mother. Lacus held her little girl before moving to Kiran.

"It's just another adventure," Kiran said, "that is what dad said every time he left for something." More tears leapt to Lacus's eyes at the mention of Kira. She hugged her son tightly letting him know she understood. When she reached Yaro he looked down at the ground clearly the most emotional as there were evident signs of wiped tears on his cheeks. Though Lacus wasn't really his mother he loved her like one and he had a hard time leaving her in this place without any family left; he wanted to stay and protect her.

"Please," Lacus said hugging him, "look after your younger siblings, I'm depending on you Yaro." He hugged her back knowing that her request was another sign of how much a part of the family he was.

"I promise I will," he responded. With that Lacus turned to walk away. She looked back one more time at her children before they walked onto the Minerva. First Kira and now her children; would things ever go back to the way they had been?

* * *

Kiran walked to one of the windows and watched his mother standing in the hangar as the ship disappeared. This was one of the hardest things he had ever been forced to do and he found himself searching for a place to be alone. After finding it he had finally had time to think about the war so far. Battle after battle the Eternal had escaped a few crazy close calls. He wondered if his family's luck would continue to surface in future events.

His mind was troubled by the sudden move from peace to unrest and now it seemed the world was going to plunge into war and there was nothing his mother nor anyone else could do about it. The thought troubled him so much and he did not really understand why; he had never witnessed a war in the past despite being born on a warship called The Archangel, which had disappeared since then. Needless to say the thought of war terrified him because of them many things his father had told him and Yaro about the first and second bloody valentine wars. The way it sounded the end of the world had been coming in both incidents. His own parents had repeatedly been targets of people who wanted them dead and they had somehow survived. Would they survive much longer? It had been a long time since they had faced any real threat.

"I thought I'd find you here," he looked up to see Shinn Auska standing near him, "I used to come here when I was unsure of things." Kiran didn't respond immediately, he knew Shinn must have had plenty of reasons to come here in the past, his part in the second bloody valentine was legendary.

"I just needed a place to think," Kiran said sitting down against the wall, "things have been so odd lately."

"I know how it feels," Shinn said with a smirk, "It's a bit odd watching everything unfold the way it has. I'm used to things happening quickly, it seems that this new war has been a very gradual occurrence."

"Why were you looking for me?" Kiran asked the ventran solider.

"I just noticed you looked really troubled earlier," Shinn begun, "I wanted to let you know that I know what it feels like to endure as much as you have. I want to be of help to you since your dad isn't here now."

"It's not his fault," Kiran said looking down, "this war has cause a lot of things to happen so far."

"I'm not blaming him if that's what you mean," Shinn responded, "Kira isn't someone anyone could ever blame for anything; he has one of the purest souls I've ever seen and he never does anything that he doesn't feel he has to do. He is one of the most selfless people I know."

"That's my dad," Kiran responded with a smile, "I remember if he was ever doing work he would drop it for anything we wanted him to do. He would help Leyas with her dancing of all things! He was always there when I needed help in school. I really miss him now."

"I miss my dad still," Shinn replied, "and it's been years since his death."

"I'm sorry," Kiran replied, "at least mine's still alive; I mean we think he's alive."

"He is," Shinn reassured the boy, "there is no way he would leave you alone in this world, or your siblings."

"Thanks," Kiran said.

"For what?" Shinn asked.

"For trying to help me," Kiran replied.

"Sometimes we all need help, Kiran," Shinn replied, "we just need to ask for it. Anytime you need someone to talk to, me and your uncle Athrun will be around for you and I'm sure the same goes for anyone on this ship."

* * *

_"Kira," there was a voice calling his name. "Kira," he heard it again but this time it was nearer; opening his eyes he struggle to move as he saw blackness and an expanse of stars around him._

_"Who's there?" he asked trying to find the source of the voice. Suddenly a shining figure of a woman appeared in front of him; she was dressed in a glowing white garment; her hair had an orangeish glow to it and her eyes we filled with kindness and wisdom. He didn't know why but he felt that somehow he had seen this woman in his dreams before._

_"Kira," she said again softly looking at him with a smile._

_"Who are you?" he asked confused as he tried hard to remember._

_"Do you not know me, Kira?" she said wisdom dripping in her voice. She floated over to him and held her had up in peace, "for I know you, though I wasn't able to be there with you as you struggled; I watched you from here all your life and in a way I have helped guide your steps. Can you not tell who I am?" He looked into her eyes and studied them for a moment and he could not quite understand why but he saw part of himself there. As he looked deeper he found himself carried away in a view of his own life._

_War... Battles... Pain... Suffering... Family..._

_He had only had Cagalli for awhile and then he had Lacus. Now he had children as well but for some reason he knew that at one time he must have had more. A picture floated by him of a brunette woman holding two children; a brunette boy and a blonde girl. Suddenly he remembered where he knew her from._

_"Mother?" he questioned._

_"Yes," she said, "though I never earned the right to bear that title." She floated toward a small star for a moment before looking back to him, "but now I have a few moments to say some things, however brief and mythical they may seem."_

_"Where am I?" Kira asked confused about whether or not he was dead._

_"You are in your own mind," she said, "a dangerous place for the ultimate coordinator, though it was not I who made it that way." She grabbed his hand, "my son there are many things that you will not understand in the coming times. War is brewing on the horizons and perhaps some things will come together for good while others will ultimately end in tragedy."_

_"What are you saying?" he asked._

_"I am saying that you hold every answer in your own mind," she said, "you will soon discover the truth of what happened eighteen years ago at the changing of the world. You will return from the place of darkness you now dwell in to take your place alongside Lacus as a leader in this world Kira. You must return to your family or all will be to late; you must save them Kira for an evil draws near unto them and even now one of them has been overtaken."_

_"I don't even know where I am much less how to escape," Kira said as she seemed to float farther and farther away._

_"You are not alone for along," she said, "when you meet with honor you must choose to return to Lacus and you must save your children from the darkness."_

_"Don't leave," he said reaching out a hand, "I need to know more, which one is already overtaken."_

_"It will become apparent in time," she said fading away, "my time is almost up."_

_"Please stay," he begged._

_"Goodbye Kira," she said, "and always remember; I'll always be here till the end of time. I love you my son now go."_

With that he awakened from his dream quite shocked at what he had just experienced. He put a hand on his head and groaned as he felt a weariness wash over his body; he recognized the effect of a drug commonly used by ROW agents to desensitize their opponents. He had felt it once before in Gibralter. He sat up as best he could an observed his surroundings. He was in some sort of cell with metal walls and a cold hard floor. There didn't seem to be any door around him nor any windows just one small light on the ceiling giving off a very dim light. There was no way anyone could stay sane in this environment for long and he figured it must be a maximum holding cell.

His thoughts turned to what he had been doing before he got here. He was investigating ROW; why? Lacus's most recent run for re-election had not been going well; The younger more upbeat Jaley Lired had been spreading lies that had angered Kira. He had gone on a search into her background and had discovered that she might have a connection to ROW somehow. Unable to prove it to himself he had worked hard to investigate the unrest and terror caused by ROW; along the way he began to see a pattern in ROW's actions. Unrest led to Civil War and Oppression which led to ROW agents coming in as hero's and "saving" the countries. The strategies used were frustrating to the Ultimate Coordinator as he searched for a solution to the battles. The deeper he got the more leads pointed to Mars. Lacus had supported his investigations giving him full backing in going to investigate Mars for he needed the answers to it all. There had been so much more that he was confused about in all the information he had worked on.

He had found a shadow of himself it seemed in some of the things he had hacked from ROW frequencies. The Ultimate Coordinator was mentioned as such in several messages. He was seemingly an element ROW wanted to control and he began to understand more about how he was the lone target in Gibralter. What he couldn't grasp was why? What did ROW want with him? What would they do now that they had him?

His thoughts turned to his mothers message to him. Lacus and the kids were in trouble and fear gripped him over the situation. As he lay here in this cold cell his children were facing the world without him. He shouldn't have left them, now he wasn't there to protect them. Lacus had told him that if he wanted to go then he should go; he knew that she could be in danger but Andrew Waltfeld had convinced him that she was safe with the faction. His mother had just convinced him otherwise.

What had led him to his mother in the first place? The only time something like that had happened to him before was in that last battle in the first bloody valentine when Flay had died. She had appeared to him to give him strength and to tell him she was sorry. What sort of connections caused these things to happen? He had never met his mother yet he had seen her so vividly and she had warned him of the future. He couldn't understand it all.

He wanted so badly to get out of the cell and get back home where he belonged in Lacus's arms; his safe harbor. She protected him and he protected her; without each other they were nothing. He needed to feel her in his arms, he wanted to taste her sweet lips and hear her angelic voice. It was a mistake to leave at this time, he could have just sent someone trusted. Was there any hope left for him to escape that place? Why were they holding him here anyway? Would anyone come to speak with him? His mind worked for so long that he soon found himself overcome with the weariness from the drug. Very soon his mind calmed and he lay again in unconsciousness; the world of dreams.

* * *

**Ah! That took a long time to write. I had a lot more scenes in this originally but I realized how much time I was already spending on this chapter. So it's really calm but I promise there is going to be a battle next chapter. I left you with another Kira scene, it was an amazing piece to write but I think it worked out for the better. It's been forever since I've updated it and I am really sorry but my college courses are crazy right now. Also no Meiko this chapter which makes me sad. I had a few scenes from her but I moved them into the next chapter to make the fluidity of the story a bit nicer. Writing this has been very hard lately with so many characters to juggle so please bare with me I'll get chapters done at my own pace so that I get every detail of the story right. Thanks for reading**

**Enjoy**

**REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! I've gotten a few reviews that have really inspired me to write more so keep those reviews coming!**

**-WintersChill  
**


	10. Daring

**Phase 9 - ****Daring**

* * *

"This will be your room," the maid said. It was a good sized room the the mansion where Cagalli, Athrun and their two sons lived. Yaro set his stuff down and nodded and the maid left. He was very tired from the battles in space and the journey back to earth. Kayla, Leyas and Kiran were also given rooms somewhere. Cagalli had understood their need for rest and told them what time dinner was normally served.

_"Yaro, Leyas, Kiran, and Kayla," Cagalli said all their names as they stepped off the Minerva, "you have all grown so much since the last time I saw you." When Uzumi stepped off the ship Cagalli was able to stay collected upon seeing her son. Uzumi walked up to her and gave her a small hug. She smiled at her son and put a hand on his shoulder. When Athrun came off she showed the same amount of affection to him through looks. Yaro knew they would discuss things more thoroughly later but out of politeness they kept their thoughts to themselves at this time. Cagalli's reserved affections were a little bit surprising to him after what Uzumi went through, but then again Cagalli had been molded into a diplomatic leader since the second bloody valentine war._

He thought more about their arrival and Jeffery's rambunctious interactions with them, his younger cousin sure was a lot more outgoing than his parents in tense situations. Rumors circulated around that said Cagalli was once just as wild as her youngest son, she even ran away from ORB on one occasion to fight ZAFT in the desert.

_"Where are they?" the young cousin asked, "let me see them! Did they all make it!" He broke from behind his mother and when he saw Uzumi he ran to his brother and hugged him, "don't ever go away to the PLANTs again! You wouldn't believe how hard it is to hold the fort down here alone."_

_"Jeffery calm down," Athrun said._

_"Dad!" Jeffery said, "Can I go next time? Please, please." Yaro turned around momentarily to see Shinn Auska standing in the doorway of this ship. He wondered why the pilot did not exit like the rest of the crew._

_"Greet your cousins, Jeff," Athrun said, "we'll discuss that when next time comes."_

Yaro walked toward the window in his room and sighed as he saw the ocean looming in the distance, he had forgotten what it was like to be on earth. Here in ORB. It was his first home as an orphan in reverend Malchio's orphanage. He thought about Cadrid Yamato who used to work at the orphanage, she was like a grandmother to him and his siblings having been Kira's adopted mother and they had often visited her. He wondered if the others had thought about going to see her more often since they were now staying here indefinitely. He walked back around the room and thought about his past. Every time he came to ORB he wondered who his parents were and why he was orphaned. Maybe this time could be one of answers now.

* * *

Shinn watched his computer screen carefully calculating the battles that had been recorded by the Eternal. The Pain and the Hatred were formidable machines and it was only Uzumi that had been able to stand up to them. Shinn had analyzed the two enemy mobile suits as well and come to the conclusion that they were the better pilots and had lost based on the level their machines were at. The Lacus Clyne units were more advanced than these two ROW suits and since that was true Shinn wondered what these pilots could accomplish with something of a higher level. Leaning back he opened up another file, one Lacus had given him on information about the abandoned Mar's base. Kira had strongly believed that ROW might have a presence in that base, which is why he had left.

"Where did you get that conclusion Yamato?" Shinn asked himself once again trying to find what made Kira believe that ROW could be on Mars. Nothing again.

He shut off his computer and stood up looking around. The Minerva had successfully completed her first mission and brought Lacus Clyne's children to safety. That was something that he was very happy about. As he walked down the hall of the shuttle that had brought them to ORB he thougth about what future missions might bring. Stepping off he was greeted by Lunamaria Hawke who probably had some reason to yell at him. The joys of having an Ex.

"Athrun said to find you since you didn't get off earlier," she said in a dry reserved tone, "he wants to meet with and I about the next missions for the Minerva, it seems we have to work together."

"Will that be so hard?" Shinn asked her.

"Not if you don't get on my nerves," she said walking away. Shinn rolled his eyes, it should be fun being forced to work with the person who hated him most.

* * *

"You enrolled me into Home Economics!" Meiko practically yelled at Mike who had just handed her the school schedule she would be using undercover at ORB's finest military school.

"I thought it would be good for you to get away from things that had to do with fighting," he responded opening the door to the apartment that she would be living in for the next month or so. She glared at him, this mission would be annoying enough without boring classes to complicate things. Her glare became stronger when she stepped into the girly apartment he had had set up for her. There were flowers in random places and everything just looked so different from what she was used to.

"I can't live here," she protested, "I can't do this. There is no way I am going to be able to rest in a place that looks like this."

"Just do what your told," Mike said handing her the keys to the apartment.

"I've done everything that was asked of me all my life!" She protested, "can't I have a little time to be who I am without anyone pushing me into a corner?" She was comfortable enough around Mike to reveal how she was really feeling about how she had been forced to live her life. She didn't have anyone else to turn to with Trey still in space.

"Meiko you can do this," he said putting a hand on her shoulder, "I promise you that soon things will get better."

"Will ROW ever release me?" She asked pushing for an answer, "or am I a slave of war forever? Does this just keep going?"

"When are you going to release yourself?" he asked countering her argument and he saw that she didn't understand, "Meiko no one can force you to do anything or be anything you don't want to be. You are your own person and you should never let people own you."

"Isn't that something you shouldn't be telling me?" she asked him.

"I don't believe that anyone should be involved in something they don't believe in," he responded, "if you don't want to be involved in ROW then leave."

"It's not that simple!" Meiko protested.

"Why can't it be?" he asked.

"Because I don't have anywhere to go!" she exclaimed, "and they would follow me! I know it! Its like Liene has this obsession with my mobile suit ability! I can't leave!"

"Then you've made your choice," he said, "so stop worrying about it."

"I get it now," she replied looking down.

"I'll be back at the end of the month with Liene," he said patting her head, "unless developments progress quicker than expected. Enjoy yourself a little Meiko for I have a feeling there are many more battles to come." As he left she frowned, she didn't want to deal with the battles that were still to come. She had a month to do her job and to take some time away from fighting. She just hoped that things would go smoothly down here, the last thing she needed was to fail this mission. Perhaps if she did all she was told for this mission she could ask for leave from the organization. Though she knew it was just a dream, it was the only thing that kept her going.

* * *

Milady floated through a room filled with bustling workers with ease, she was there to check on the updates of the new technology they needed developed. Most of it was limited to advancements in weaponry, equipment for Redemption's Space station, which was located in an asteroid, hidden to the outside world. There was one project within that room thought that she was very interested in, the SS-System, something that she had specially picked out the top technicians for. It was a system of masterful genius in the hands of the right pilot. It's full capabilities were unknown even to her scientists. Many predicted that the development of such a system could be dangerous, but Milday saw it as the only thing that could defeat ROW.

As she was floating she was accompanied by a couple of technicians and Yzak.

"How are we doing on that system?" Milady asked one of her technicians.

"The data we stole from ROW is top notch," she responded, "I think it's safe to say we're a step ahead of them in its development but the problem is we don't have anyone in our ranks who could possibly operate that thing." Milady did not care about them not having someone to operate the system yet, she was more concerned that ROW was trying to develop it as well.

"It doesn't matter what we have now," Milady replied thinking through recent developments, "we'll have someone as soon, I'm almost certain of it." Yes their plan was moving quickly, and she had finally found what seemed to be the missing piece in her plan. Now she just had to figure out how to acquire that piece without facing the inevitable backlash that could come from any rash actions. The move she planed to make next would most certainly have its consequences, but she was worried about her plan succeeding without her making that move. Her technicians seemed more concerned with the power of the system they were working on.

"But Milady there is no one in the whole universe strong enough to handle that power." Milady knew they were wrong.

"There is," she looks cloudy eyed, "in fact there are exactly six people who could potentially operate it, though I doubt that it would be wise of us to try and approach three of them."

"That system!"

"It's a death trap," Yzak said finally speaking, "you'd have to be crazy to put anyone in there, it would drive them insane." Milady did not doubt that most people would be driven insane by it.

"A machine that works with the brain and advanced reactions," technician says, "we're not even sure what someone strong enough could achieve with it."

"Like I said," Milday responds, "in its perfection there are six people that posses the ability to pilot it. The key is that we must make sure it is advanced enough to keep from destroying them."

"Are you sure this theory is true?" Yzak asked, she smiled at his question. The theory of Super Seed was indeed true, though she believed that no one had really scratched the surface of how strong someone who possessed the super seed could truly be.

"As I watch battle's from these individuals the more I understand that it's true," she responded, "it's just never been called upon by anyone."

"Then you can't be sure that it is real!" Yzak declared.

"We will know soon enough," She sighed stopping in front of a large mobile suit, "it's time for us to depart. We may be too late if we don't leave now." Reaching into her pocket she slipped out a white mask used to cover her face when entering a battle. Putting the mask on she turned to Yzak, "order the Reversal to be ready to leave in three hours." With that she floated out of the area. Yzak was worried about this mission but he knew that it was necessary. Looking up at his machine, he knew that he would have a fight on his hand against the Pain but he was ready for everything counted on him being able to defeat that machine.

* * *

"You brought Lacus Clyne's children here!" Junby Gratsler stood up in anger. Cagalli sighed, he was the one member of the council she wished she could get rid of, how he had managed to get elected was beyond her. The young radical always disagreed with her and Athrun, though they were often right. How could someone be so dumb as to argue as much as he did?

"I thought we had moved beyond this discussion Senator Gratsler, but I can see that I have not made myself clear yet," Cagalli responded, "Lacus Clyne was declared a criminal, her children were not. I think it is pointless to allow innocents to run around with the guilty when they are in danger of being corrupted." She hated putting on this mask of indifference to Lacus's situation but as the council did not know about her being involved with rise of the Minerva it was necessary. The story she had told the council is that the Minerva took custody of Lacus's children when they met up with her and decided to send them to ORB, she in turn had agreed to take them and to watch over them until the mess in the PLANT's had been cleared up. It was very close to the truth aside from some very minor details.

"Lacus Clyne is a wanted fugitive and the PLANTs will believe that we helped her once this gets out!" Gratsler pressed on. The other older members of the council were fed up with him as well and kept sighing. They remembered what Lacus stood for and were all out of sorts with what was happening in space. Though none of them believed that they had the power to help her and still keep their nation safe, none of them held a hate for her.

"So don't let it get out!" Athrun declared standing up to defend Cagalli, "You obviously don't realize that no one really knows her kids on earth do you? We thought this over Gratsler, we didn't just act! Aside from that the kids use the Yamato name which is common in ORB."

"But what if..." he was cut off by Athrun again.

"Then we will explain to them what we did and why it wasn't wrong!" Athrun exclaimed, Cagalli had not seen him this angry at a council member in years, it reminded her of good times from the past. Gratsler was obviously shaken by Athrun's commanding authority and sat down not daring to argue again.

"Now that we are beyond that," Cagalli said rolling her eyes, "on to other more important matters, our military strength must grow if we are to last. With war pressing on all sides we must remain vigilant in our beliefs."

"I think we need to act now," and older Senator stood up, his name was Berren Duabi, he had supported Cagalli as she had grown up on the council and was every loyal to her, "I have committees working on an act that should help us generate the funds to create a better military."

"I thank you for that Senator," Cagalli said with a sigh of relief. Maybe they could get through this time of turmoil, with a little bit more cooperation.

* * *

"Don't let Gratsler get you down," Senator Duabi said as he and Cagalli were walking the halls of the Capitol after the meeting, he had decided to show Cagalli the progress of the committee on his military act.

"I don't," Cagalli responded, "It's just hard to deal with him sometimes."

"I know what you mean," the elder Senator responded, "but you have come so far Cagalli, and you have grown to be a wise ruler like your father before you. He would have been proud." Cagalli felt a sense of nonchalance at the mention of her father. When she was younger she struggled so much in the council chamber trying to be like him but it seemed as she got older she began to feel him beside her every time she spoke. He guided her steps to becoming a better leader.

"Thank you Senator," she replied, "you don't know how good it feels to hear that. I often wonder what he would do when faced with this world." She looked out the window toward her country. "We are watching our world fall apart and it seems like we are powerless to help it."

"As long as we hold true to what we believe," the Senator began to speak, "I believe that through all the bad in this world that there will always be something stopping it. When the night comes upon we do not really know what the future holds, the sun may never rise again but in our hearts we truely believe that it will and it is in that belief that we have the peace to rest and to fight on through the night."

"You should address the nation, Senator!" Cagalli replied to him with as smile.

"Perhaps someday I will," he replied with a chuckle, "but for now I wish to work behind the scenes, for though there is always a sunrise, it takes lasting the night to make it to that sunrise."

"Then as we believe it will rise, we will fight on for it," Cagalli sighed.

* * *

_"NO!" she yelled as the gun was pointed. She saw the scene through her violet eyes as she ran to stop Liene. She didn't want this, she didn't want him to die because of her. She leapt and grabbed Lienes arm pulling down the gun but he easily shook her off his arm and pointed the gun at her. Hate filled his eyes and she drew back in fear, she had never seen him like this before. Why had he become so angry at her? The little girl held her breath as she saw his finger move on the trigger. She looked toward the boy once again; fear was also evident on his face and pain as well. She knew that he would try to save her if Liene moved to fire the shot but she also knew that he no longer had the strength to do it. She looked around the faces of the officers but she knew no one would move to help her; they all believed in Liene's methods and they all hated her for being a coordinator. To them she was a tool; disposable and lifeless.  
_

_Looking back to Liene she saw his eyes had softened slightly._

_"You just won't harden Meiko," He said putting his arm down, Meiko felt her heart rate start to slow as the gun was no longer pointed at her. She saw some relief come to the boy's eyes. Liene then looked at the boy and back at Meiko; his eyes once again grew firey. "If it takes force to create you into who you were born to be, then so be it." With that he quickly pointed the gun at the boy and shot before Meiko even knew what was happening._

_"NO! DANIEL!" she cried out screaming the boys name. Liene walked toward the the other officers as Meiko crumbled beside the frail figure beside her._

_"Meiko," he said as tears fell from her eyes._

_"No don't..." she couldn't say the word as he reached up toward her._

_"Please," he said, "escape ROW, survive." He then grew cold and lifeless. Gone was the first friend she had ever had._

Meiko woke from the dream without sitting up for she had gotten used to this dream, though it had been awhile since she had seen it so vividly. The dream was a memory, one that Meiko had thought that she had escaped. She was merely a seven year old girl when it had happened; Liene had taken her to the capital of the Atlantic Federation on an assassination mission, her very first. While a war torn part of the Federation she had met a boy of age 9 who was also with ROW. It was from there that things went downhill. She stayed in ROW becoming a cold warrior at times while at other times she felt everything, every pain that anyone else had. She often retreated behind her cold mask to be able to face the world, for outside of it she could only see pain.

Perhaps she could learn to accept it? Her life would never have the freedom of everyone else. She belonged to ROW just like the rivers belonged to the sea. Thought they flowed freely they would never sever connection to the vast body of water. No matter how many times she tried to be done, no matter how many times she begged for release she found herself completely trapped. At times when she had felt freedom it had smacked her down and caused her to hide. Hide behind ROW and it's single minded purpose, to restore the world.

She needed to clear her head, ever since she had fought against the Eternal her mind had once again wandered into the realm of seeking a life outside of ROW. She knew what life was like out there, it was pain and peril. She would be alone and she would not ever find the peace she sought. The real peace lay in her mask, behind the lines of ROW fighting all those who had lives of pain. She could not fathom how she had allowed the voices of so many effect her thoughts, she was her own person and Mike had convinced her that she fought for ROW. As an agent of ROW she was honored as a judge of the world gone so wrong and she would go back to being that person. Standing up she grabbed a cloak and walked out the door. She once more needed to see it, the monument that honored all those who had fallen in war; all those who killed and didn't deserve life, yet were honored for their sacrifice. Those people had not made the world any better, in some ways they had made it worse.

* * *

"You do realize the risk's we are taking in revealing the Reversal so early," Yzak said as they approached their target zone.

"It doesn't matter," Milady responded looking around the bridge of the ship towards the many fine people whom she had grown to trust so greatly over the years. She would never have predicted that her organization of Redemption would have grown so large.

"If the Reversal were shot down.." he was interrupted by her words.

"It won't happen now," she responded, "but perhaps someday this ship will see it's last battle and we will begin again."

"How do you know you will make it out alive?"

"I don't," she says, "all I know as that as long as there is good in this world someone will always rise up in the place of a fallen star. Someone will always fight for the redemption of mankind even when they are utterly alone."

* * *

_"You'll be alright here Trey," his father said handing him a key, "we'll be home soon."_

Trey gritted his teeth as memories of his fathers face floated through his mind; he looked more like his mother now but as a child he used to boast how he would look like his father. His parents had been civilians caught in the crossfire of civil war in his nation, innocent and without blame they were and still nothing could protect them. War had done this to them. Hate had done this to them. He had been left alone, a ten year old boy, left to face the world without anyone to guide him through when ROW came along and picked him up. He had accepted their help to survive and in exchange they asked him to fight for them. It had been easy to decided, no child wanted to stay in a war torn country and Liene had convinced Trey that he wanted to end the war. Mistake 1, trust.

The longer Trey had stayed in this organization the more he realized that it was all wrong. Memories of his parents had been in the forefront of his mind of late as he remembered everything they stood for. His father had often stated that there was a group behind all the war in the world. Trey had not understood it for many years but by the time he realized it might be ROW he had met Meiko, the little girl who needed his protection from the brutality and hatred of the people in ROW.

Trey floated above the floor in his room holding the key to his old him wondering why ROW still fought this way when they claimed to desire peace. Surely peace would come quicker if they laid down their arms. It was clear now, ROW did not desire the ideal peace of Lacus Clyne or Cagalli Yula Attha, but since that was so what did they desire. For now his loyalty lay with them because he wanted to protect Meiko, but what if she fell in battle? Would he leave?

"ALERT ALERT! ALL HANDS LEVEL 1 BATTLE STATIONS!" An alarm suddenly rang through the ship causing Trey to leap into action on impulse. Something was coming! He instantly was glad that Meiko had been sent away, the last thing that she needed were more battles. He rushed through the halls of the Prejudice heading toward the mobile suit bay and the Hatred; a name he dreaded having on his mobile suit. He opened the door to the hangar and saw hands rushing about scrambling the 1 ROW standard suit that had been transferred to their ship in Meiko's absence. They should have gotten more. He wondered what was after them, ZAFT or the Earth Alliance?

"What's going on!" He asked a crew member.

"A ship has been sighted on a course to Mars, it's not friendly whatever it is, they've already opened fire on us," the crew members face was frantic. The Prejudice was usually the ship launching the surprise attacks not having the attacks launched on it.

"Get the Hatred on the launch cannon now!" Trey ordered the hands.

"We haven't received any orders yet!" Another crew member said.

"Our communication lines are down!" Another yelled.

"What is going on!" Trey demanded, "get my suit ready! I have to get out there!"

* * *

"Take the ships main engines out! Fire everything!" Milady yelled as the Reversal bore down toward the Prejudice. Yzak repeated her orders trying to ignore the recklessness of her tactics in this attack. He knew what was important now, it was fate that they meet the Prejudice on their way to Mars; they would soon be able to capture their target and thus begin reversing the damage ROW had done on the world. Soon, those two suits would launch and he would capture one.

"The Prejudice main engines are having problems!" One crew member yelled.

"Fire sensor missiles now!" Yzak ordered as crew members rushed to obey. As the missiles fired millions of tiny sensors launched catching the beams the ROW ship fired back and exploding.

"Beam shields!" Milady ordered as some beams began to slip through the little net they had laid.

"Have Alice and Kruss launch the two Ginn units now!" Yzak said taking off cues from Milady.

* * *

Trey floated up to his cockpit quickly as crew members scrambled entering in the launch codes. Suddenly communication's returned and Trey saw Giligan's face on his monitors.

"Launch Trey! Take that ship out now!" Trey ignored the irrational captain's shouting. He would focus on protecting the Prejudice until it got it's engines back online, then he would focus on attacking the enemy. Protection of the lives on the ship was more important than destroying the lives of others. As he was thrown into space he noticed that the enemy vessel had launched two obviously inferior mobile suits. What game was this ship playing? One of the suits approached him. He tested the pilot by shooting at the machine a few times.

Trey watched as the pilot dodged with the experience of a veteran fighter and shot back a few times. The two mobile suits fought with shots from a distance until Trey noticed the trouble that the Prejudice was having with the other machine. With anger filling him he took out his beam saber and moved in for close combat with the machine. After a few minutes of battle Tray knocked away the machines shield and plunged his beam saber through the cockpit of the machine. He quickly fled the exploding mobile suit and moved his machine as fast as he could back toward the ship to take out the other one. Who ever these people were they seemed to under estimate the power of ROW. He would do as he was told, he would destroy his enemies.

* * *

"GET THE ENGINES BACK ONLINE!" Gilligan yelled watching the battle begin to unfold before him he noticed something on the side of the ship. Standing up he yelled at those who were in charge of the visuals of the battle "Get any identification we can on that vessel! Who is it that is attacking us?"

"Sir we have a visual of their symbol, it isn't ZAFT or the EA," A crew member said putting it on screen.

"Then who is it?" the commander asked looking at it. A simple black rose wrapped in a blue ribbon with a red R lacing around it. In shock he yelled, "Launch Strike missles and aim for the bridge!! Aim main cannons at the back engines! I want that ship down today!!"

"Who are they?" one person asked.

"The greatest enemy of peace," Gilligan responded as memories of the teenage brat filled his head. Liene had been assured by his assassins that she had been taken out after the Gibralter incident yet here her symbol was again, mocking him and once again intervening in the affairs of ROW, "it is Redemption!" The whole crew knew the name of the faction, it was truly their greatest fear that Redemption would rise again and that fear was now reality. "Get a message through to head quarters, if we can't take the ship down then they must be warned."

"Our communications are down!" someone declared causing Gilligan to grit his teeth. They could not allow this ship to slip by them, it was heading to Mars to rescue Yamato he was certain of it. He smiled as he realized it was a blessing in disguise that Meiko had been sent to earth at this time, that would through them for sure.

* * *

"The enemy has launched 1 ROW standard," Crew member Arian Smit declared, "their launchers are closed, it appears that there are no more mobile suits on board."

"I see," Milady responded, "then order Yzak to launch now and take out the rest of their force." She stood up and bowed her head in honor of her one fallen machine.

"Order the launching of Redemption's Honor!" Arian declared. Milady looked forward with determination, nothing was going to stop them this time. Liene may have removed the Pain from this ship but she was sure that they would face it once they got to ROW's base. Now they would show ROW that they had not been idle in the past years, they were ready for anything now!

* * *

"Redemption's Honor prepare for launch," the radio order from the bridge filled Yzak with focus. He had been told that the Pain was not presently on the battlefield but he would still have a fight taking down the Hatred. Smiling he powered up his new machine for the very first time in combat.

"Redemption's Honor," he said, "this is Commander Yzak Joule, launching!" The wosh of the canons would have sent an inexperienced pilot out of control but he understood what he was doing. He was able to quickly guide his machine into the thick of the battle. The Hatred stopped it's fight for a moment upon seeing the new machine enter the battlefield. Smiling Yzak fired multiple weapons at the machine hoping to catch it's attention while the other Redemption suits dealt with the ship. The Hatred responded immediately with it's own set of shots, which Yzak easily dodged. He then leaped into action knowing it would be a mistake to give his opponent time to analyze his fighting style. The Hatred along with the help of the Pain had taken out Dearka Elsman, an old friend of Yzaks and neither of them were to be underestimated.

The Hatred changed it's tactics hoping to throw off Yzak who didn't fall for it.

"Is that all you got!" He yelled pulling out a few beamed knifes and shooting them toward the machine.

* * *

"Sir the ship has launched another mobile suit!"

"Get a visual!" Gilligan ordered as he watched the chaos unfold around him. This ship had to go down! The name of redemption could not be allowed to exist, how is it that they escaped ROW's operatives? He looked up to see the mobile suit appear on the screen and he gasped at what it was.

"Sir the machine appears to be of the Gundam class, and it is now engaged in combat with the hatred," the crew member said.

"I know what it is!" Gilligan yelled, "order trey to take that machine out now."

* * *

Trey struggled to keep up with the mobile suits fast movements, the pilot obviously had incredible skill. Out of habit Trey tried to call Meiko for aid but she was not here this time. He struggled dodging the machine's insane weapons as it pulled out different guns and beam weapons.

"Trey take the mobile suit down now," a crew member's voice said from the Prejudice.

"I'm kinda working on that right now," He yelled out of frustration as the machine pulled out another pair of beam knifes and launched them at him. He shot one and took the other to his shield causing it to explode throwing him off guard. What was this organization about? It seemed the entire fight was being won by speed and surprise. Trey gritted his teeth and fired at the machine destroying one of it's guns. When he looked again the machine was gone. A mirraige colloid? What was going on?

Suddenly the machine was on top of his with it's beam saber pulled out. He reached for his own but before he could take it the machine sliced the right arm off his machine and smashed the head, this damaging the camera. Trey could no longer see but he fired anyway hoping to hit that machine.

"Trey get back here," he heard orders being shouted, "the ship is moving by us and we have lost our engines, we have to retreat!" Just like that Trey sighed in relief, it seemed the machine did not want him dead. They had lost bad today. If only they had Meiko but then again she should no longer be forced to fight. Trey sighed wishing he had not been born in this time of unrest.

* * *

"We have them on the run!" Arian said with excitement. Milady smiled looking forward, their next surprise attack would have to be much faster than that one had been.

"Good," she said, "order Redemption's Honor to return to the ship and put us into stealth mode, we are going to the far Mars base." They had suceeded in step one, now they had to face a larger threat and a gamble she was not sure they could win.

* * *

It had been two days since their arrival in ORB and they would start school the next day. Yaro sighed as he walked through a park. He decided he needed sometime to think and he had found this peaceful place near the cliffs. It was here that he would clear his mind, here where the wind whipped through the trees and the sun shone down with peace and brightness. He had experienced so much and so little at the same time with the battles in space and the new chapter of his life, once again without parents.

Yaro slowly sat under a tree as he heard the laughter of some children playing. They were so innocent and untouched; how he longed to be like them again, to laugh and live as if though the world was perfect and without any flaws. The children were selfless, thinking only of how they could re-invent their games. They depended on each other to be able to play and they were quick to forgive should one of them offend the other. It seemed the older people got the more hardened and full of hate they became, it was that hate that drove the old to start wars that would be fought by the innocent. Why was the world so twisted? Yaro had watched all his life as Lacus and Cagalli had fought to create a better world and a lasting peace but he was beginning to loose faith in it. Could such a world of peace exist? Was there any answer?

Only in children could he see a perfect world. The love, innocence and tenderness of children was all that held the fragile threads of the world together. Why did everyone grow up to become haters instead of lovers? Leaning back he sighed at his thoughts, he could not answer his own questions and it filled him with fear. Everything around them was crumbling though this place seemed like it was in perfect peace. He could sense the greater portion of the world outside groaning in agony and truthfully he was in just as much agony.

It was a part of him that existed from the time he was a child. A part of him that was always afraid, ashamed and filled with anger. Kira had always gently led him telling him that anger was a natural part of life; Kira was no longer here shielding him from his own mind and anger was welling up more and more. Yaro was beginning to believe that all the feelings within him that were wrong came from the life he did not remember. He had often wondered who his real parents were though Kira and Lacus had shown him love; he wondered why they did not love him enough to keep him. He stopped his heavy thoughts and began to focus on breathing, this was too much for him to handle at this time. He closed his eyes and began to envision his perfect world, willing himself to forget that it could never be reality he grasped at it and held it near. When he opened his eyes someone on the cliffs quickly caught his eye.

He blinked to make sure he was not seeing things, there stood the perfect figure of a young girl with long red hair blowing beautifully in the wind. The girls hands were clasped together at her chest and her head was down as if she was praying, he had never seen anyone more hauntingly beautiful in his entire life. Something about this girl called to him in every way. Who was she?

"Birdy," he heard a sound coming toward him and he looked to see something he had not seen in what seemed like forever. A green and white mechanical bird flying toward him, a signal of friendship given to Kira Yamato by Athrun Zala, something that graced the world in times of turmoil and peace. Behind it ran Kiran, Yaros blonde little brother with a huge smile on his face. Kiran had the same faith as Lacus always had, an innocence and love about him that Yaro was sure the turmoil in this world could not destory.

"Yaro!" Kiran called out to him. Yaro smiled at his younger brother.

"Hey Kiran," he said, "where did you find Birdy?"

"In the cockpit of Dad's mobile suit just before we left," Kiran responded looking up at the mechanical bird, "I miss Dad."

"So do I," Yaro stood up and put a hand on Kiran's shoulder, "but if he were here I know he would tell us to be strong and to keep going on for the sake of the future. Though he has been gone along time, he's not dead." Kiran brightened up a little.

"I know!" he said, "and i know he is coming back soon!" Kiran then was lost in thought for a few seconds before perking up, "Oh yeah I almost forgot, Uncle Athrun sent me to find you about something, I'm not sure what."

"Ok I'll be along soon," Yaro then turned to look toward where he had seen the girl and when he looked she was no longer there. Blinking he tilted his head, could he have imagined her? He turned back to see Kiran hurrying along toward home, curious he turned back one more time only to confirm that whatever he saw was there no longer. Yaro convinced himself that she must not be real, for such perfect beauty and surreal countenance could not exist. Breathing out he too started back toward their temporary home hoping that somehow he would find a way to fight the darkness while he was here in ORB

* * *

_"You will never be strong enough!"_

Words meant to break her.

_"You will never be good enough!"_

Words meant to bend her.

_"You will not rise above!"_

Words meant to destroy her. Not now. Everything she had been told her entire life was meant to destroy her and now she would show them once again that she was better than they could ever be.

Cold. Her eyes were cold and dark when she looked into the mirror. It had surfaced again, the monster she was. It was happening again, anger was rising in her heart as her eyes darkened even more. Meiko's emotions flowed into one smooth stream as she felt nothing else but determination. She would complete her mission as a solider of ROW and no one could stop her. She was born a solider, she was raised a solider and she would die a solider. The emotional pain that had plagued her for the past month slipped away as she fell back into the reverie of who she was always meant to be.

The cliffs of ORB were so peaceful and those people knew nothing of what really happened in the world.

She would make sure they felt it.

* * *

**I feel like the worst author ever!!!!!!!!!!! I am so so sorry to everyone who has enjoyed this story, it is so important to me to write this story well but it is also kinda of complicated right now because thought I know most of the major plot twists I keep going back and fourth with what ROW's real evil goals are!!! So I was going to update over Christmas break but it was a needed break with college courses and now I am back so hopefully things don't get to bad. **

**SO I hope this chapter meets up to expectations! Please Review! The reviews that come in my email after I haven't updated in a few months really help remind me why I am writing this! I love it when you express your interest in my plot and characters and I love seeing your predictions so keep them coming! And thanks for being patient with me! **

**And forgive if some of this seems rushed, I did rush some of the scenes to get them done!  
**

**REVIEW REVIEW  
-Winters Chill!  
**


	11. Kira

**survivor18 - I guess it was unclear, Yzak's mission was not to capture the Hatred, it was to capture the Pain while holding off the Hatred which is why they were a bit surprised that the Pain wasn't there. So Yzak damaged the Hatred at let it escape. So sorry about that not being explained well enough!  
**

**Phase 10 - Kira**

* * *

_There was an expanse of sea around him as he stood upon a rock looking down into the depths of the water. Lighting struck as wind blew and a storm raged around him. He looked around as he heard cries for help, cries that he recognized well._

_As he gazed down into the ocean he saw them, his children grasping at rocks and screaming out in terror as the waves came up about them. Kiran, Leyas and Yaro all sat in danger while he was safe. Suddenly their images faded and he saw Lacus and Kayla standing on a rock under a break in the clouds, a light shined down upon them protecting them from the darkness of the storm. Soon their image faded and the storm ceased. He found himself alone surrounded by still waters and clear skies but the scene was one filled with deceit for as he looked down into the water he saw their faces; his children and his wife were dead beneath the ocean lost to all human kind._

_He cried out in anguish._

Kira cried out as he woke up from his nightmare. Everything that he loved was dying, how could this happen? He breathed out reassuring himself that it was just a dream, nothing to worry about but a feeling in his heart told him that his family was in danger and he was here in a cell unable to help them. He hated feeling helpless and useless, he pounded his fists to the ground in frustration when he heard a voice behind him.

"You're awake!" He turned quickly startled, had his captors finally come to face him. He then saw that the person who had spoken was a prisoner like himself with his hands bound together, he was no longer alone in this cell.

"Who are you?" Kira demanded trying to make out this stranger, he had green hair and strange yellow eyes. Whoever this person was, Kira knew he had nothing to fear from him and that they were both in the same situation. They had both been put into captivity here.

"I am Gren Tris," the man said, "i would extend a hand but they are bound together."

"I'm Kira," he said hastily, "Kira Yamato."

"I know," the man said surprising Kira, he had never met him before, "I know you're surprised but your name is well known amongst the ranks of those who I work for. The wheels of a plan are in motion and I am here to bring you hope for the future, Redemption had arisen and your freedom is on it's way." Kira just looked at him with a face of confusion until he clarified, "I am an agent in the organization Redemption sent to bring you a message, the black rose has arisen and the lady of Redemption is now on her way to rescue you."

"To rescue me?" Kira asked, "but no one knows where I am but Lacus."

"You are mistaken," he replied, "Redemption has waited for a long time to strike at ROW and your capture just gave them reason to move."

"Then they are coming here?" Kira pressed future as hope filled him, perhaps he could get to Lacus and the kids in time to save them from whatever had been attacking them.

"Led by Redemption's Honor, they are coming," Gren replied. It was then that his mother's words returned to him

___"When you meet with honor you must choose to return to Lacus and you must save your children from the darkness."_ His chance to return to everything he loved had come, he prayed that he would make it in time.

* * *

"All vents open," the voice rang around the ship, "all crew members prepare for submergence. Minerva engine levels all green. Take us under." Shinn stood on the bridge watching as the great ship launched for it's second time since being rebuilt. This was his mission, to intervene in the unrest caused by so much war. It was time for Minerva to take up it's calling and to fight for the brokenness around it.

"Our next launch," Lunamaria said standing next to Shinn shocking him with her unhostile tone, "I wonder what awaits us on our next mission."

"Lot's of ROW agents to fight off hopefully," Shinn replied, "if we can get along to defeat them."

"Meyrin talked to me the other day," Luna said suddenly turning to him, "and she does want us to try and get along for the mission so I guess that maybe I have been a little to rambunctious in the past. I am sorry for being so rude, you are a comrade with the same goals as me and I plan on being more civil in the future."

"That will be a change," Shinn mumbled earning a frown from Luna. Luna grunted in anger.

"I try to be nice!" Luna grumbled, "can't you at least stop being so insolent!" Shinn looked at her confused, what had he done now.

"What did I do?" he asked confused.

"Ok," Luna responded, "let's start over. We are comrades fighting for the same thing lets not fight for the sake of this crew, deal?" She held out her had and afraid of angering her again Shinn took it.

"Deal," he said.

* * *

Lacus flipped through the papers that Waltfeld had just handed her. Shiho, Waltfeld and Chairman Amarfi were all working out the details of a secret project Lacus wanted accomplished: the upgrades to the Journey and the Visage. She scrutinized each detail of the plans, she had witnessed that ROW's machines were behind her own and she wanted things to stay that way. She didn't want to know what would happen if her pilots fell behind those that were working for ROW.

"So the weaponry going to be more advanced?" Lacus asked, "what about the defense systems? We want our pilots as safe as possible especially in the event that they are our children like Yaro and Uzumi. I was frightened when we sent them out."

"That is detailed in the third page," Waltfeld said pointing it out, "we are boosting things to new levels because of the situations we went through."

"What pilots do we have for these machines?" she questioned further.

"I've been running inspections on the pilots looking for a couple who can handle the machines as good as Yaro and Uzumi," Shiho responded, "the difficulty is that most of our pilots are veterans who were never impressive and never will be and the few that are rookies are just simply not at the level they should be." Lacus thought about the situation, she could always call upon Yaro and Uzumi to fight again though she would never want to do it.

"I see you have your work cut out for you Shiho," she replied, "I want you to find pilots who are better than Yaro and Uzumi were. We want our machines in the best hands." Shiho knodded knowing to obey her leader though she was sure that the task would be impossible.

"There is so much to loose at this point," Amarfi spoke up, "I wonder if we should just let Uzumi and Yaro go through some real training and then call upon them again."

"Uzumi is the prince of ORB he could never be seen to join us!" Lacus protested.

"And Yaro?" Amarfi questioned.

"He's my son," Lacus said with a slight desperation in her voice, "and however many times I endangered Kira, I don't want my children fighting in this war."

"But if he wanted to?"

"I will not allow anyone to make the request," Lacus shook her head, "only if he asked for the position without a request would I give it to him. But I will not have any of you telling him how badly off we are, am I clear?"

"Perfectly," Waltfeld said looking toward the others who all nodded in agreement. Lacus looked out the window in the room toward space, there was too much happening around her and her thoughts turned to Kira, she wanted so badly to know that he was alright. He had to be!

* * *

Kiran walked briskly besides his cousin Jeffery hoping not to get lost; as younger students their school started a day early and Kiran was unsure what to do. School in ORB was not at all like it was in the PLANTs where the schools were smaller and more personal, here in ORB the schools were very large and easy to get lost in. Luckily Cagalli had every connection in ORB and was able to pull some strings to get Kiran the same class schedule as Jeffery though his cousin was two years younger. For the first time he would be in mobile suit training and the thought was exciting to him.

"How much farther is it?" Kiran asked his cousin.

"Not far now," Jeffery said, "that building there! That is where our first class is, come on we don't want to be late." Jeffery then started running quickly toward the class. Kiran ran too but slammed into someone causing him and the other person to fall to the ground. His papers went flying as he had to let go to catch himself. Great he had managed to humiliate himself on the first day. He looked up toward where the other person fell and was even more embarrassed when he realized he had knocked over a girl, who was very pretty. She had semi-long brunette hair that fell around her shoulders in soft curls and brown eyes.

"I am so sorry," he said rushing to help her pick up her things, "I wasn't looking where I was going, I was following my cous..fffriend to class. I am so sorry."

"You said that already," she said with a sightly frustrated look as he handed her what things he had gathered of hers. She looked up at him with some gratitude, "thanks, I mean not for knocking me down but for helping me pick up my things not very many people at this school would do that."

"You're welcome," Kiran said as he realized she wasn't mad, he then went to pick up his own things and when he turned around she had some of his stuff and handed it to him.

"I'm Alicesia," she said holding out a hand.

"Kiran," he said taking it, "I am so sorry again I am new here and..."

"I know," she said cutting him off, "I didn't recognize you and I know everyone here." Just then the bell rang and they realized that there were very few students still out. Kiran looked around for Jeffery but he was gone.

"Great," he picked up his schedule trying to decipher where to go.

"What's your next class?" Alicesia asked.

"I have some sort of science here," he said showing her his schedule, "but I have no clue where to go, my friend was leading me to it when he started running and I lost him."

"I have the same class," she said with a smile, "and the same mobile suit class as you, I'll take you."

"Ok cool," Kiran said not noticing that she was walking already, she turned around.

"You coming Kiran," she said with a nod.

"Yeah right behind you," he said following to her. They got to class on time and luckily the teacher had not arrived yet. Kiran saw Jeffery looking confused as he walked in. Jeffery waved and Kiran was about to wave when he noticed Alicesia wave. Kiran walked toward Jeffery and Alicesia followed him.

"You two know each other?" both Alicesia and Jeffery said at the same time.

"We just met," Kiran said to Jeffery, "because you ran way to fast."

"That's like Jefferey," Alicesia said sitting down, "you need to calm down sometimes."

"What there are places to be and little time to get there," Jeffery said defending himself, he looked as if he was about to say more when another girl walked in, this one had honey brown hair and the same brown eyes as Nessara. Jeffery waved at her.

"Jeffery likes her," Alicesia whispered to Kiran, "and has since last year but he is too nervous to tell her."

"Really, he's only twelve?" Kiran asked.

"And you are how old?" She asked.

"Fourteen," he replied a bit unsure how old the kids in this class were.

"Wow two years older," she replied sarcastically with a laugh, "I'm thirteen. Honestly I don't think it matters how old Jeffery is, he can like whoever he wants."

"I guess," it was at that moment that the teacher came in with a smile.

"Hello class," he said with a kind gaze, "it's a new week and time for us to get to work on those studies." Kiran was happy that the first day in a strange place seemed to be going well, he had managed to make a friend besides Jeffery and he looked forward to time time he would spend here. He focused on what the teacher was saying in class as he had missed many weeks of school but he managed very well as much of the lesson he had heard before. Alicesia was much less interested in the lesson, she liked Kiran right off and knew that they were going to be great friends.

* * *

Yaro was a bit unsure about how to begin this conversation and he expected all forms of opposition from both Athrun and Cagalli. When he woke up that morning he knew that he had to make his request known before he got caught up in his mobile suit training. Luckily he found the perfect opportunity at breakfast where none of the other kids were present. Uzumi had gone to the school to arrange a new class schedule for them both, Kiran, Kayla and Jeffery were in school and Leyas had fainted illness for whatever reason. Sometimes Yaro just decided that he didn't want to know what was going on in Leyas's mind, she always formulated plots and plans to get her way in whatever she desired and he was convinced that she was faking this illness to avoid having to go to school the next day. Realizing his thoughts were off track he brought them back to where they belonged and gathered his courage to speak.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," he began looking toward both Cagalli and Athrun.

"What is it Yaro?" Cagalli asked. He breathed in before asking his question.

"Do you know how I can find out who my real parents were?" he asked quickly adding, "I know that sounds like I am unhappy with Kira and Lacus when I really am not, I love them like parents, I just want to know." Cagalli put down the fork that she was holding and looked him in they eye.

"The truth is Yaro your parents might not eve be alive," she said, "you were placed in the orphanage after the great wars, who knows what happened."

"Then I know they wanted me," Yaro replied, "I just want to know who they were."

"That information may have been lost in the wars Yaro," Athrun said backing his wife up, "but if it is something you really want to know I will do what I can to help you find it."

"Thank you," Yaro said not wishing to talk about it more. He had gotten what he wanted out of the conversation and he was done with breakfast, time for a boring day preparing to face mobile suit training.

* * *

She stood across from the school grounds in a nearby park wondering what it was going to be like. She had never been to a school before and she was slightly anxious not knowing what to expect, she couldn't believe that her classes would start the next day. It was a new experience for her being unsure of what was coming, she could predict any battlefield situation and face it with a level head but when it came to a simple learning academy she was dumbfounded and did no know what to do. She stared at the steps and suddenly the scene morphed to a ruin in front of her. Everything was shattered and broken into pieces, there were clear burns from beams that had torn the place apart, there were bodies scattered all around. Everything had fallen apart. Meiko's breathing increased as she tired to shake the image from her head, she had seen images like this so many timed, in so many places.

"Are you alright?" The blue sky returned as a kind voice spoke these words, the school was there sit intact and there was life everywhere. She turned with cold eyes to see who was there and found herself face to face with an hazel-eyed, blue haired boy. His smiled did not fade as he saw her cold eyes. She just stood there staring at him until he noticed the coldness in her eyes falter as a sadness tried to overwhelm her blank expression. "Are you alright?" he asked again with real concern in his voice. How was that? How could someone she didn't even know care whether or not she was alright when the people she knew didn't even care.

"Yes," she responded hastily still trying to cover the fear in her eyes from what she had just seen.

"Are you sure?" he asked with even more concern. Uzumi had never seen anyone looking so scared in his life. He was leaving the school campus after meeting with some of the academic advisers when he had seen her staring toward the school grounds terrified.

"I'm fine," her face softened but she did not smile, "just fine."

"Do you go to school here?" Uzumi asked curiously, he had never seen her before yet she had looked toward the school with purpose. He had been gone a long time he might have never met her, "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Uzumi Zala." _Uzumi Zala_, this was him the person she was supposed to befriend when she arrived at the school, what luck to meet him here now.

"I'm Meiko," she said taking his hand as he extended it, "Meiko Virea, and I don't go to school here yet but I will tomorrow." She put on a friendlier face though her eyes still remained as cold as ever.

"That's cool," Uzumi replied smiling, "I go to school here as well and my cous--friend is starting here tomorrow as well." He cursed himself mentally for almost slipping out the word cousin, he did not really know this girl and though she seemed harmless he was forced to be wary of everyone.

"So I'm not the only new student," Meiko said feeling a bit of relief, "that's good." She was a bit sad she had to decieve this boy, she thought he was very nice already. She had never met anyone like this, usually people were only nice when they wanted something from you yet he seemed like he was being nice just to be nice. It was a riddle to her and she did not realize that she now looked a bit confused to Uzumi.

"Don't worry about it, it's not that scary," Uzumi said catching her off guard.

"What?" she questioned.

"School here is not that scary, sure there are some mean people but there are tons of nice people as well," he said with a large smile, this was also a mystery to her. She had never met anyone will such a kind smile, it was almost unreal.

"Oh that," she said with a slight laugh, but he noticed that her eyes were not in it, "I'm not scared, I was just checking it out beforehand."

"Ok," he replied, "look I have to run, got a lot to do. But hey I'll see you tomorrow and maybe I'll help you find your way around."

"Okay," she said, "thanks."

"Goodbye," he said walking down the street leaving her stunned at what she had just experienced.

"Bye," she managed before turning to go her own way. She mentally told herself to ignore the kindness of Uzumi, though he was nice she had always lost her friends in the past. She didn't know how she would take it if she lost another one.

* * *

Yaro sat down near the front of the crowd. The whole Zala family was now attending one of Cagalli's national speeches. It was said that she would address issues related to ORB's sudden stress on more military. There were hundreds of people their to see their national leader make another speech.

Athrun stood behind the podium in a line of the country's leaders watching the crowd with caution. Something was not right about the atmosphere and he could not place it; ever since they first met he had somehow been connected to Cagalli in such a way he could tell when she was in danger and here in this room he was beginning to feel that she was in danger. He kept calm as he was a well trained solider in the past, but he could not keep his mind off his one goal; protect Cagalli. He radioed the guards again and found that there was nothing suspicious about, just norgam ORB citizens. For a moment the feeling left Athrun and he began to relaxe believing the threat was gone. Cagalli was then announced and she stepped up the stairs toward the podium with all the grace an official leader should have.

"Good evening citizens of ORB," she said in greeting with a smile as the cameras began to flash on her, "I would like to speak to all you citizens on this day because today an act was signed by our council to expand our ORB forces, in order to ensure a lasting peace for all of our people." She paused and looked out into the crowd with confidence, "I assure you all that this act does not mean that ORB plans on war ensuing here on our soil, it just a means for protection in this unrest..." She was interrupted by someone yelling. Athrun became immediatly alert as his sense of Danger began to rise. Yaro spun around to see where the voice was coming from. Athrun signaled the gaurds.

"Representative Attha!" the man yelled jumping up, "you know nothing of peace." The man then pulled out a gun and fired, he was backed up by another somewhere in the room. There were two shots and both were toward the sage. Athrun sprung with the reflexes of a coordinator and pulled Cagalli down just in time. One of the shots hit the arm of one of the council members, and a few more shots rang out as the whole room began to panic. Yaro jumped up as all the people began to scream and he spotted one of the criminals. The gaurds moved toward the first man and he turned the gun on himself and shot himself. Yaro yelled to the guards but his voice was lost in the screaming crowd. Taking the initiative he ran toward where the second man had gone casing after him with sure determination. He would not let anyone hurt his aunt without a fight. He ran out of the building and saw the man heading toward a car, unpurused by guards. Was it possible that they did not even realize that this mand had been shooting to? Yaro jumped after him reaching him just before he reached his car, he wrestled him to the ground. The man was strong but not enough, he was obviously a natural. Yaro wrenched the gun from his hand and pointed it had him before he could react.

"If you don't want to die put your hands up," Yaro demanded just as a group of guards caught the scene and ran out. Athrun was among them.

"Good work Yaro," Athrun said as the guards surrounded the man. Yaro's breathing was fast and his eyes were still filled with determination, this man had tried to kill Cagalli, he was wary of what else the man might be able to do.

"It's alright now Yaro you can put the gun down," Athrun said putting a hand on his shoulder, "we're here now." Yaro slowly came to his senses and looked his uncle in the eye. He brought the gun down from the man and turned to his uncle.

"I'm alright," he said, "How is Cagalli?" Athrun looked down.

"She is fine," he responded, "but Senator Duabi took a bullet for her near the end, he was just brought to the hospital."

"Why would someone do this?" Yaro asked tears filling his eyes, "why would anyone try to kill another? Especially someone like Cagalli?"

"Why would anyone accuse Lacus Clyne of being a criminal?" Athrun asked back, "there are so many things we do not yet understand, but we must find a way to understand them." The two then went inside to meet with the gaurds who were now smuggling Cagalli to a safe bunker, Athrun accompanied her and the kids were all brought to a secret car. They brought them home where Jeffery went on and on about how scary it was. Uzumi was relatively silent as was Kiran. Leyas and Kayla who had stayed home rushed out when the boys arrived.

"We saw it all over the news!" Leyas declared giving Yaro a hug, "I was so worried about Aunt Cagalli how is she?"

"She is fine," Yaro replied, "but one of the senators was hit."

"It's getting harder to understand everything," Kayla spoke up looking off toward the horizon, "the war we've been waiting for has finally arrived. ROW was behind the attack, I just know it." Yaro agreed with the younger girl, ROW was the only organization that he could think would do something like this, but why?

* * *

"Make this quick," Liene sat comfortably enjoying his dinner. His plans had been progressing with ease. Meiko had just made contact saying that she had met Uzumi and already begun to work on befriending him. The next day Liene was set to take off from the Mars base, even though he had just arrived, to ROW's main headquarters on the far side of the moon. It was at the main headquarters that many of his main plans would progress from and he was sure that from there he could work without fear of anyone suspecting. The man before him now was Commander Lero, a man who had been in the ROW ranks for awhile but had never really done much for them except maintain the small Mars base.

"Sir," he said bowing slightly, "now that you have finally arrived we have a piece of news for you. We recently found a ZAFT ship in our vicinity, a ship we didn't have on file so we took it captive and like you ordered us to we began to kill the prisoners. When we were about to kill the captain we noticed something about him, he manifested the seed mode and beat up many of our gaurds. It took a lot to restrain him, we then hacked the system of the ship and found out the man in question was in fact, now you'll never believe this, the man we have in our custory is Kira Yamato." Liene's head shot up fast as the name of his enemy was spoken. Could this be possible that Kira Yamato was in their custody? So that is why the Freedom was not among the group that saved Lacus! It had shocked him so that Lacus had to escape without him, yet here he was. He had been chasing them down! Standing up Liene shouted instructions.

"Bring him to me," he said, "I can't believe you didn't recognize him at first! The brunette hair with violet eyes!" They were a bit shocked by his outbursts.

"We have him here now," Lero said nodding to one of the garuds. The doors opened slowly and two garuds dragged in a man that Liene had not seen since he was a boy, Kira Yamato; he had grown up a lot yet now he was weakend by drugs that many ROW officials used to control prisoners.

"So Kira Yamato!" Liene smiled evily, he could not believe that his luck was about to change. For so long he had only shadows of coordinators to experiment on, now here he had the real Ultimate Coordinator. Kira looked at him with anger in his eyes, no doubt he didn't take to being locked up in a cell.

"Who are you," Kira demanded to know as fierce rage began to fill him. This must be the man in charge of this base, maybe even the one in charge of ROW.

"Why don't you remember me Kira?" The man asked walking circles around him, "I would have thought that you would never forget what we did to you in Gibralter." Memories hit Kira's mind of the torture and the pain he had endured at the hands of terrorists linked to Blue Cosmos. The man who led them was simply called J. That was when Kira realized it, J must have escaped all those years ago for the man that he was now brought before looked and spoke exactly like J.

"YOU!" Kira's anger was nearing his heights and J knew it, even with the drugs it would be hard to suppress the seed without another stronger dose. He quickly motioned for one of the guards to administer one. Kira let out a small cry as the gaurd kicked him down to his knees to stick the needle it. It made Liene smile to know he had the Ultimate Coordinator in his control now. Kira's breathing got hard as the drug began to take effect.

"You're the one who tried to kill Lacus!" Kira was able to manage to say between labored breaths.

"Wrong," Liene replied, "the plan was not to kill her but rather to break her into our way of thinking. You see if she came around then we knew we would be able to more easily take her two children from her for our purposes but since that didn't happen we gave up and left you two alone."

"Why?" Kira asked him, "why does ROW exist?"

"To right the wrongs of the world," Liene responded watching as Kira put his hand on his head trying to block out the effects the drugs. Kira gasped as pain was shot through his body, whatever this man was giving him was worse than anything he had experienced in Gibralter

"To spread your lies!" Kira could barely answer back as he felt his head spinning.

"You'll come around to our way of thinking soon enough," Liene pulled out and instrument and pointing it toward Kira he pushed the button letting out electricity. It tore through Kira like fire and he cried out. Soon it was to much for him to take and he blacked out. Liene put his instrument away and walked toward the wall.

"Put him on momentary recovery then place him back in his cell," Liene said, "I am leaving tomorrow but when I return I expect to see him here. Get answers out of him, we need to know where Lacus is well. I have a strange feeling that we are closer to our goals than I thought. If Gilligan is right and Redemption did not keep A1 than I am sure our lead rests in Lacus. We know she made contact with Redemption once at Gibralter. We have to find her, we need her to talk."

"Sir the assassination attempt was a failure," a small messanger ran into the room at that moment, "Cagalli and Athrun escaped." Liene smiled at this news confusing his gaurds. He had set up the assasination attempt to purposly fail, he knew that ORB was in a slight state of unrest wiht all the military acts Cagalli was signing. This stunt would surely send the whole coutry into Chaos setting the representative's attempts back. He did not want Cagalli dead yet, she was still an instrumental piece in his plan. Everything was going exaclty the way it should.

* * *

"This will go much easier if you tell us where Lacus is," Lero said overseeing as three of his men tortured Kira. ROW had advanced many different kinds of weapons in the past 16 years and one of the areas they covered was torture weapons; such painful ones that many victims were killed during their torture. Liene had been very specific about keeping Kira alive and Leo understood why. Liene had long worked on trying to harness the power of the seed, and during his studies he had discovered the ultimate coordinator might posses the super seed - a kind of seed more powerful than the normal seed that was rare enough.

"I don't know!" Kira declared glaring hard at Lero who only clicked another button on the machine to induce more pain.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Lero yelled, he was getting nowhere. It was possible that Kira really did not know where Lacus was, he was away when Lacus left but Kira must have some idea of where his wife would flee to. Why did Liene want Lacus? Because he had proof that she had made contact with Redemption on the issue of one of Liene's past projects. His proof came from a redemption spy he had captured; he had tortured this spy to find out where he had delievered some stolen goods to which he answered that Lacus and Redemption hid them together. Liene hated Milady Redemption more than anyone else because of this. Lero remembered the girl, she had always been troublesome and unsubmissive but Liene had insisted that she was important. Liene had personally overseen her training and prepared her for the future when she turned on him and stole information, goods and one of Liene's most important goods, the A1. Liene had tried to replace it, tried to recover it and he had tried to replicated it. Nothing had worked. Liene had decided to ignore the issue until he had stumbled upon some information regarding Lacus's new mobile suit, the Visage. Liene's fury was renewed at the information and he would now stop at nothing to uncover the truth about what Redemption stole from him.

"It's like I said! I don't know!" Kira declared again as soon as he could speak, "and even if I did know what makes you think I'd tell you?"

"Well under the right persuasion," he was about to push a different button when a hand caught his, Lero turned to find himself face to face with Mike Shurstre who had just returned from his mission to earth.

"That's enough Lero," Mike said switching off the machine, "your orders are to keep him alive, and he has endured too much this day."

"I am obeying orders," Lero said, "we need this information."

"In time," Mike said, "but there is now way to get it if you kill him, let him rest." Leo stormed off angrily and Kira looked up at the man who had stopped his torture. He was wary of everyone here, no one in ROW was to be trusted. Mike looked down with a sad look in his eyes, ROW had indeed become a place of misery with slime like Lero as main officers.

"I am sorry," Mike turned saying to Kira, "sometimes these people get out of hand."

"You're one of these people," Kira replied bitterly as gaurds came in to take him to a recovery room so he could be tortured again later.

"Something I remind myself everyday," Mike said turning away and leaving the room, it was all becoming harder to see. Liene would destory everything in his path if he was not stopped. Though no one in ROW particularly liked Mike, none of them questioned his loyalty either. It had pained him time and time again to prove it through brutal and terrible means. The one thing he had done right was help Redemption escape, but he was unsure if he would ever be able to help her again; he only hoped all her plans worked.

* * *

Gren sighed as he thought of what Kira would go through now. It would have to end soon, Redemption had to show up. He looked up toward the roof of the small cell, he had been with Redemption for three years and in those years he had learned so much about life. He could see the world with such clear eyes since Milady took him in. The organization was home to so many who were broken, so many who had lost everything. Milady gave them hope and offered them a way to fix this broken world. He had been so lifeless before she found him and now he was filled with so much hope.

Meeting Kira had been very surreal for him as he began to see why Kira was so important to Redemption. Just his voice inspired hope. Gren realized that hope was what it meant to be the ultimate coordinator. So would ridicule Kira and try to destroy him if they knew the truth about what he was, but that was because they did not understand. Hibiki had not even understood what he was dealing with when Kira was born. Gren sighed as he thought about what was yet to come; the super-seed had to awaken if this world could be saved. Even with hope in his heart a small bit of doubt lingered in his mind; ROW had already accomplished so much. His thoughts turned to Redemption's next gamble; the gamble for the soul of a child who had the same spirit that Kira possessed, a child that could bring about a true reversal. A child who was all but dead, one that needed a breath of life. Redemption would deliver a breath of life.

* * *

School would start the next day, he now needed one more relaxing walk before he was forced to return to his studies. He was curious as to whether or not the red head girl he had seen earlier would be there again this evening. After questioning the man Yaro had caught, ORB still did not understand why anyone would try to kill Cagalli. She had been returned home and security around the family had been tripled but so far there were no more threats. Yaro wondered how things in ORB would play out now that the country had just been thrown into panic. Cagalli had asked Uzumi to make a public speech on the matter as she was unable to appear before the public. Yaro knew that she hated endangering Uzumi but the public had to hear it soon, and what better way to announce his re-arrival than to address the nation.

Yaro shoved everything out of his thoughts, there was too much going on here. He missed the comfort of his home in the PLANTs, be he would not ever see that again.

He hurried along until he could see the cliffs. He then realized that a storm seemed to be drifting in. When he reached the cliffs there she was again, just as she had been the day before. Red hair glistening even though there was no sun, head bowed toward the ground. A scene Yaro did not wish to break. Who was she?

* * *

**So I approached this chapter in a better way that past chapters. I decided to write at least one scene a day in order to get it done faster. I know I am still slow but I am now forcing myself to write. I've found that if I force myself to begin a scene that I am unsure of then ideas begin to flow, it's becoming kinda therapeutic to write this story now as I have found that there are so many pressures that life brings. I don't think that my grammar or ability to catch mistakes is any better though, in fact it might be worse. So I hope this chapter is clear and unconfusing, if you have any questions about it just ask, I will answer you to the best of my ability without revealing to much of the plotline.  
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**So anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter, for action lovers there wasn't so much except for that assassination attempt. I also hope you liked the new characters introduced, Alicesia is one of my new favorites. So now Meiko and Uzumi have met, what will it be like when she finally meets Yaro.**

**Please Review! Review! Review! Your reviews are really what inspired me to get this chatper out as fast as I did!  
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**WintersChill  
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	12. I'm With You

**So so so so sorry about the really long waits you are all enduring! I've been trying to write but I keep hitting writers black amidst a stream of homework, projects and endless testing. My school year is almost over so hopefully when it ends I will have more time and an easier summer.**

**I've been working every spare minute I get on this chapter and I hope you enjoy it!**

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* * *

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Phase 11 - I'm With You

* * *

Each wave crashed with a rhythm that echoed the unreal. Birds flew overhead together, untouched by the trouble world they passed over. The setting sun laid an aura or peace on the scene with colors of beauty and rays of light glistening like hope through a few scattered clouds. Wind blew around her in a pattern that soothed her numb soul. This was what she had missed from space, for nothing up there could compare to the beauty of watching the sun fade over the ocean so blue. This was something she didn't deserve to see, for she had killed many and would kill many more. It was wrong for her to survive in luxury while the innocent suffered so much. She would watch it no longer. She turned quickly only to have her eyes meet another pair of eyes like her own; filled with sorrow and confusion.

* * *

No sound was heard as their eyes locked for the first time, it was as if silent lighting had struck the earth and there would be a thunderous sound to follow yet the lightning lingered. Yaro's serene blue with her ashy violet. It was as if there was no one else in existence and the world had stopped turning.

"Hi," Yaro said breaking the silence.

"Hi," Meiko said cautiously finally exhaling a breath she did not remember holding. Something about him seemed so familiar and so real that she wondered who he was. He had the same feelings about her for as soon as her eyes met him a something about her struck him as if they had somehow met before.

"I'm Yaro," he said trying to learn her name.

"That's a nice name," she said not smiling, he noticed a hardness in her eyes that wasn't evident unless one really looked for it, "do you often come to the cliffs?" She asked. She had no intention of giving him her name. She did not want to establish connections with anyone else in this nation, for if ROW had it's way the whole nation would be destroyed. She nodded politely to him and began to walk off. She was in a hurry to leave while Yaro wanted her to stay.

"Wait." he said stopping her, she turned back to him feeling the strange sensation again as his eyes met wither hers, "What's your name?" She frowned at his question and looked down before turning to walk away once again. He grabbed her arm in an attempt to stop her and she whirled around quickly as if to hit him but once his eyes met hers again she was immobilized. Who was he? How could he have such an effect on her? It was as if she was unable to think, his mind blurred hers and she was unable to decide whether or not to give him her name or to keep walking. As her heart rate increase she fought a battle within her self on what to do.

"My name is Meiko," she said finally giving in.

"Where are you from?" More questions. She couldn't afford to make friends, they were all doomed here.

"I don't know," she responded taking a step back, "but I'm late for something I have to go."

"Wait," he said once again making her very anxious.

"You know if I were you," she said stopping whatever he had planned on saying, "I would stay away from me." Her words shocked him long enough for her to escape. As soon as she was out of his sight she ran as fast as she could till she made it back to her home. She worked to catch her breath while her brain kept trying to figure it all out. Who was this boy that he could effect her this way?

* * *

Cagalli stood near a large window staring out at her country below, it was such a place of peace and of strength. She had done so much to build it up, to make it stronger than her father had made it, she had done this all to honor him, Uzumi Nara Attha. The sun was near set and it's golden rays were dimming enough to look into it. She sighed as she felt a peace every time she stood here, for it was here that she used to talk to her father. She still felt like he was was alive and in a way he was, inside of her and inside of her sons. She wondered often if she was being a good mother to them; she had left much of their care to nanny's but she still loved them. Her duties were such a large burden that when she was younger she often thought about handing her position off to one of the council members but standing here had always made her change her mind. She had worked to hard for peace to let it all go now.

"Cagalli," Athrun walked into the room, his presence immediately giving her joy. She was so glad that she had met him when she had, though they both had been scared teenagers at the time they had been able to change the world together. She smiled as he embraced her and kissed her. When they broke apart they both looked out the window together as they often did but she sensed something was up with him.

"What is it?" she asked softly. He looked at her with a slight smile.

"I just wanted to let you know that I've begun looking into finding Yaro's parents," Athrun said.

"Are you sure that this is the right course of action?" Cagalli asked, "what will Kira and Lacus say?"

"I believe Yaro has a right to know," Athrun replied, "and I believe if Kira and Lacus were here and knew what he wanted that they would take this same course of action. Whoever his parents were probably died in the wars anyway. It's very unlikely that his past is dark and to foreboding for him to find out."

"But what if it is?" Cagalli asked, "what if there is some terrible secret to his birth like there was to me and Kira's?"

"It's highly unlikely Cagalli," Athrun said calming her, "but if there is something that is too dark, I will consult Kira and Lacus before letting him know."

"Good," Cagalli sighed as the last but of the sun disappeared over the hills, "continue then, but be careful."

* * *

First day of school since he got back. Uzumi smiled, the realization that he was finally home had hit him late the night before. The shock of fighting for his life with Lacus had been a lot to handle, he had not let his own weakness show. He was a Prince of ORB and though he would stay strong through everything, it was still nice for him to be back in a normal and peaceful place.

"I don't see how mobile suit classes at a private school are going to help us," Yaro said grumbling and staring out the window, "why can't you're dad just teach us?" Uzumi expected Yaro to protest earlier than this, so far he had kept himself quiet but Uzumi knew that he would complain at some point.

"My dad doesn't have the time," Uzumi responded, "and this is for your own good Yaro, what you showed in space is that you need a lot more training before you can handle a mobile suit." Yaro turned away and didn't say anything the rest of the drive; Uzumi knew that he was thinking about the incidents in space and wondering what he could have done better.

The limo soon pulled up behind the school, where it avoided attention, and the two boys stepped out. Their uniforms were neatly arranged as the queen's stylist had been assigned to make sure the Prince looked his best on his first day back. Yaro was not surprised by the prim air of the school, the students were mostly kids who were hoping to make the military and a lot of them had military families, of which they were very proud. This place was sure to be an interesting atmosphere after fighting in space. Uzumi walked forward and Yaro followed him onto the school grounds. Uzumi began immediately to search for her, the girl he had met a day earlier. He had wondered about her since he met her, there seemed to be something about her he knew yet he couldn't figure it out. Anyhow he had told her he'd help her find her way around, and he meant to keep that statment if she'd let him; she seemed to be very strong willed.

"Where are we going Uzumi?" Yaro asked. Uzumi smiled at his cousins question and continued through the halls, he didn't see her and they had to get to class. They were almost there when he saw her walking toward the same class him and Yaro had, her uniform a little messy and her head down and defeated. He once again wondered about her but quickly approached her.

"Hey," he said when he realized that Yaro had said it at the same time.

"You know her," they both said together not even noticing Meiko's confused then horrified look which she was able to quickly mask with calm. This was not a situation she would have ever wanted. Her heart beat sped up at the sight of Yaro and her mission was Uzumi and somehow they were friends.

"I met her yesterday morning," Uzumi replied.

"And I met her yesterday evening," Yaro said they both looked toward her, her expression was unreadable to either of them.

"And neither of you know me very well," Meiko said putting on a smirk, she was ready to play her role and she would not let Yaro affect her, "In fact neither of you has had more than an eight minute conversation with me, so I suggest you don't make assumptions about me being your friend. We will be classmates, schoolmates and after we have gotten to know each other we might be friends but who knows we might end up hating each other." With that she walked into the classroom very glad that she was able to escape them both. She also was glad that despite the way Yaro effected her she had been able to continue with her job without letting him get to her. She was stronger than she had thought but she wondered how long her confidence would last.

Yaro and Uzumi both walked into class after her. Uzumi was surprised at what had just transpired, she seemed so much more confident at that moment it made him wonder about her more. Yaro on the other hand was completely smitten by her confident attitude, he concluded that he would somehow find a way to get to know her better.

As the class began the realization began to dawn on Meiko, she would most likely hurt both Uzumi and Yaro in her mission.

* * *

Leyas sat on the stairs staring at the large door of Cagalli's mansion. She had convinced the boys to leave for school without her saying that she was not ready and would ride in another car, the truth was that she had no intention of going. It was hard enough to be away from her home but acting as if this was home now would torture her to no end. She had not been able to sing or play music since leaving her house. She missed her safe harbor, her beautiful music.

"What are you still doing here," she heard a voice and turned to see her aunt Cagalli at the top of the stairs. She had been caught, though it wasn't as if she was putting to much effort into hiding. Standing up Leyas faced her aunt.

"I have no intention of attending a military institution at this time in my life, especially not one in ORB; no offense to your country but it's not my home," Leyas then began to walk down the rest of the stairs.

"Wait Leyas," she stopped and she saw Cagalli walking down toward her. She crossed her arms and looked her aunt in the eye. She reminded Cagalli so much of Kira with her large violet eyes filled with determination Cagalli thought of this as she spoke, "we do not wish to make you unhappy here, believe me I know everything that you are going through." Leyas listened as her aunt continued, "I was once taken from my home and thrust into war, and I fought for my life everyday on the battlefield believing that ORB was gone and that I would never be able to return. While on that battlefield I was glad that I had training on how to handle myself and after all my battles were over I was able to return home. What we are fighting for now is peace. No one says you have to go to the battlefiled, but I am telling you now that sometimes the battlefield comes to you even when you don't want it. You have to be prepared for anything." Tears filled Leyas's eyes as everything she was feeling began to surface.

"It's just so hard to think about," Leyas said, "I don't want to fight and I don't want any of them to fight! I want peace back." Cagalli hugged the crying girl.

"I know Leyas," Cagalli said, "I know." When Cagalli let her go Leyas dried her eyes.

"I guess I should ask you to call a car, I don't know my way to school," Leyas said trying to smile.

"I will then Leyas," Cagalli said, "and if you ever need anyone to talk to you know me and Athrun are here." Leyas smiled at this knowing it was true. Cagalli watched as Leyas left realizing that she did not fully know how her own son was doing, he had shut her out. Uzumi had fought desperately on the battlefield and since his return he had not really spoken very much to her, granted she had never been the kind of mother to question her children of their days and offer her advice, but for the first time she was shocked at herself. She knew Lacus's children were used to codling and she had tried to help them adjust but now she wondered about her own son. What was he feeling?

* * *

Second day of school. Kiran was so far enjoying all the subjects he was learning but he wondered how it would all help him. The whole place seemed to pretend to train soliders when it really seemed to teach basic education like the education he got in the PLANTs. Today I was finally in a class that sounded like a real military class, it was mobile suit lab training. They were learning how to construct mobile suits, granted it was just the basics it was more than he was getting from any of his other classes.

He heard someone call his name and looked up smiling as he saw Alicesia walking toward him.

"Hey!" She said with a smile sitting next to him but before he could respond the teacher walked in and immediately began talking.

"Ok class, as you know we are working with some high tech equipment in this class," Kiran was amazed he didn't even give an intro he just jumped right into things, "so as such it can be dangerous so I am assigning you all lab partners to keep you accountable." He quickly handed out sheets of paper to everyone who all started talking as soon as he stopped talking.

"Who'd you get?" Kiran asked Alicesia not even looking at his. She smiled in a sly way.

"Why don't you look at yours first?" she asked him folding hers up. He frowned and unfolded his paper, reading it quickly.

"It says I'm with you?" he said confused.

"Yes," Alicesia said, "and guess what I'm with you! We're partners!" She smiled really big, she was excited! She had never had a cool lab partner before and she often found herself annoyed with whoever the teacher assigned her.

"So I guess this class is going to be pretty easy partner!" Kiran said with a laugh.

* * *

This was their time finally; all the information they had accumulated over the past few months had led to this moment. Meyrin smiled as her pilots and captains stood around her in the briefing room, it was time for the new Minerva to show that it was now the strongest ship in the world.

"The ROW base we are about to attack is not heavily armed," Meryin spoke with authority, "but like any base or outpost it could contain vital information on what ROW's true plan's are. We are going in there to take it out without killing too many people; the more captives we have the more people we have to answer our questions." She pointed to the map, "We haven't see the base yet, but we know it is in this area based on information we have obtained through some very messy sources. We are only here now because evidence that this base is important in ROW's plans has surfaced."

"Is the evidence sufficient enough to where we know this attack will make a dent in their forces?" Shinn asked her a little skeptical about this mission. He had obtained some of the information himself but he still had his doubts that this base made much of a difference to ROW.

"It is sufficient enough for our superiors and therefore it is sufficient enough for us," Meyrin said, "I have already told you all the plan of attack many times; we will move in quickly in stealth mode. We will then launch our mobile suit teams led by the Destiny and the Impulse - after that the Minerva will attack strong and hard, at which point our mobile suit teams will retreat behind the ship. Any Questions?" No one spoke up so Meyrin took a step back.

"Be ready in two hours," Meyrin said, "we are nearing our target and we will take it out."

* * *

Meiko walked quickly down the halls of the large school. It was time for lunch and she was glad to be out of boring classes that only taught things she knew very well. Yaro and Uzumi had been in both of her classes in the morning and it had been very hard for her. She was trying to be friends with Uzumi yet she found herself constantly distracted by Yaro, there was something about him that made it hard for her to ignore him. This was new for her, she was used to being on top of everything but today she didn't know what was going on. As she walked down the halls something began pressing on her mind and she heard music. A piano playing a simple piece in the key of A minor, something she shouldn't know. She blinked trying to get it out of her head but her mind began to feeling, the familiar feeling she felt in space.

She instantly became determined to discover the source of this feeling. She had only one clue, music. She walked so quick she almost ran the feeling growing in her mind as she got closer and closer of the auditorium not knowing that her target was feeling the same way and being driven on in music through the feeling they shared. Meiko burst through the auditorium and her eyes saw a girl with brunette hair, her eyes were closed and she was playing the piano.

Leyas hadn't played a piano in ages and for the first time she had inspiration flowing through her, a song she had never played before singing out to the world around her yet no one heard. She felt the familiar feeling from space and instead of stopping her this time it drove her on and the chords that played were stronger and more beautiful than any she had ever played. The feeling seemed to draw closer and the tragedy of the tune increased, there was much sorrow in it yet a small bit of hope seemed to linger in the one major chord that kept repeating itself. In this moment Leyas's song was free and Meiko was hearing the story of her own life. Two girls somehow connected but the tune would have to end as any other. The final chord was questioning leaving both girls stunned.

The feeling lingered in both minds as Leyas opened her eyes to see a redhead with her eyes in front of her. Their eye's mirrored each other both filled with confusion at the ending of the song and the feeling that dwelt within their minds.

"Who are you?" Leyas was the first one to break the silence as Meiko seemed unable to speak.

"My name is Meiko Virea," Meiko said stepping cautiously, "who are you? And what is it that you've done to me? How is it I can hear your music from across the campus?"

"I am Leyas," she replied not offering a last name as she stood from the piano bench, "and I only came here to let a song play for myself yet somehow you heard it. Why is it that my mind feels odd right now? What is it about you that makes me feel as if I know you from somewhere?" Both girls paused unable to put into words what they felt.

"I don't know," Meiko said turning away, "for I don't know anyone, save those who are like me; broken hearted and alone. I should go."

"I wonder though, Meiko," Leyas spoke before she could leave, "what is it about us that connects us? Only if we work together to explore our pasts can we discover the truth of it." Meiko knew she could never share her own past with anyone, for it would ruin her mission and mean the death of the person that she told, no they could not discover a thing together. It was then that as Meiko turned around she realized who this girl really was, she had seen this girl in a music video, Leyas Yamato! Part of her mission, the one thing that connects them, Leyas was one of the ones Meiko is assigned to possibly kill in space and maybe in the future. Shocked by her realization Meiko took a step back away from the girl.

"Our connection is not one of happy circumstance," Meiko said turning away once again. She then began to walk out of the auditorium.

"May our paths cross again," Leyas said, Meiko paused momentarily then continued. Leyas turned back to the piano and began to play another tune, the familiar feeling faded while Mieko was still in the aisle of the auditorium but Leyas still wondered and remembered what was it about Meiko's eyes that had given her reason to fear?

* * *

Meiko sat in the back row of seats that had been setup in this warehouse, this was her third class of the day and soon she would be going to lunch. There was a large curtain drawn over one half hiding the exercise all the students would be participating in. She turned her head and saw Uzumi and Yaro coming through the door, why were they somehow in all her classes? Luckily they didn't see her as student's flooded into seats, but if this exercise was individual as she had heard many rumor they would soon know she was in their class. After a few minutes went by the class's professor, Ren Peterson finally arrived.

"Good afternoon everyone and welcome to your first Mobile Suit evaluation," he spoke with the authority of a veteran when most of the student's knew he had never seen a battlefield in his life. Meiko wondered how he would evaluate their mobile suit piloting. "Now most of you in here have experienced some form of mobile suit training. It is in this class that we see how good you have actually become and since I don't like to waste time lets jump right into it." A few technitions who had been standing behind him then walked behind the curtain as Ren pushed a button causing it to move away revealing something she had never seen before, it looked like a mobile suit but intuitively she knew that it wasn't.

"This is the Green Lie," Ren said motioning toward it, "it is a new high class technology system developed by Morganrate to test young pilots. It is a simulation of many really situations that mobile suit pilots face." Meiko doubted that this thing would really test her abilities well but she was intrigued by the machine. Ren then continued, "Uzumi Zala will be the first up on testing." Meiko was able to smile slightly as she saw the young boy walk toward the machine, she had heard that his mobile suit skills were exceptional yet she had never seen him in battle. Here was her chance to evaluate him as a pilot.

As the battle appeared on screen she began to analyze his strategies and quickly understand how he fought, he was a very good pilot better than she had expected. When he stepped out of the simulator his score appeared on the screen; 98/100, near perfect.

"Very Good Uzumi," Peterson said with an impressed tone, "you scored higher than all the officers who we have had test it. Now class that is some true mobile suit fighting!" The class applauded and Meiko join in slower than the rest. She had evaluated his techniques and discovered that they were the best she had ever seen besides her own. She hadn't had ever had the privilege of facing any of the greats, Shinn Auska, Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato, but she had killed countless amounts of people in mobile suit combat. Her methods were the direct result of lifelong training and fighting. She had never been defeated on the battlefield and she felt confident that she could beat this machine with no problem.

Professor Peterson began calling students one after another, none of them scoring near as high as Uzumi. After twenty students the second best was Yaro who scored a 74 and the third was a student name Lans who scored a 36. Meiko smiled when she heard her name called, she would show them all who was the real power in mobile suit fighting.

Stepping into the simulator she was surprised it was exactly like a mobile suit cockpit inside. She quickly examined the controls and memorized each on within thirty seconds. When the simulation began she fought fake enemy after fake enemy. To everyone on the outside her time seemed a lot longer than that of anyone else. Shocked Yaro watch in awe as her power inside the machine seemed never ending. Peterson looked nervous as the score had reached 100 but the simulation continued. It was programed to stop when the user was shot down, and this girl seemed invincible inside of it; how could they stop someone who could just keep going like this? The students kept their eyes glued to the screen when the a red messaged appeared on the screen; System out of control, system failure. Reboot immediately. Meiko stepped out triumphant, she had not been shot down by a single enemy. The students all looked at her in awe as she walked to her seat. No one could stand against her in combat and she believed that no one ever would.

* * *

Shinn sat inside his mobile suit as the Minerva crew rounded up the survivors of the base. The battle had been easy as Meyrin had predicted. Their plan went perfectly and it was as if the base had no defenses to fight off their attackers; they surrendered as soon as they could and Meyrin send in ground troops to round them all up. He saw the Impulse flying around the base and knew Lunamaria was probably congratulating herself for doing so well in the battle. She had take down more mobile suits than Shinn as he was more focused in getting the base to surrender than killing everyone off.

He saw an order appear on his screen and quickly exited his machine meeting Meyrin on the ground outside of it. He saw a group of Minerva troops standing around four men, obviously officers by their uniforms.

"Shinn," Meyrin approached him, "these are the commanding officers of the base, I've been questioning them but they haven't given me very much information. I am calling some more crew members to bring them into custody on the Minerva." Shinn nodded.

"Very good, maybe we should get them back to Athrun as soon as possible," Shinn responded, "what is it you called me down for."

"I need you and Luna to lead a small team to explore the base further," Meyrin replied, "we don't want anything to slip our notice before we leave here. There is too much at stake to miss any details." Shinn resisted the urge to fight Meyrin on sending Lunamaria with him, it was very annoying to be around her but he knew it was important that they learn how to work together again. He turned and saw Lunamaria coming toward them at that moment and he saw that she did not appear angry, upity or annoyed. Perhaps she would be calm.

"I got your message Meyrin," Lunamaria said when she arrived, "is the team assembled?"

"Yes they are," Meyrin said beckoning to a group of soldiers, "and Shinn will be accompanying you." Lunamaria did not fight this order giving Shinn some relief. Perhaps being back on the battlefield together would be good for them.

They soon departed would their small group searching every room they found for signs of what ROW is after. It was only when they reached what appeared to be the base's commanders quarters that they began to find information. Lunamaria saw a folder of papers scattered about the floor, and began to gather it while Shinn went to the computer.

"SHINN!" Lunamaria practically yelled in surprise and shock, he turned to see that she had dropped all the papers she had gathered and picked up one. He quiclly hurried over to see what it was that she had found and he gasped in surprised as he saw a picture of Kira Yamato. "What would they want with Kira?" Luna asked him.

"I have no idea," Shinn asked, "were there any more pictures there?"

"It seems as if the captain tried to burn these papers but somehow he failed," she replied picking up a picture that was half burnt, "this is the only other one I found." Shinn looked at the photo and did not recognize the girl in it but he was intrigued by something, she had red hair and violet eyes. Her eyes seemed to hold too many emotions for him to read. There was something about the girl that made him think that she might be important but he wasn't sure.

* * *

Dearka Elsman walked through the door of Cagalli's office surprising her completely. She had not expected to see him there for another two days; her mind instantly began to wonder what prompted him to come so early.

"Welcome Dearka," she said motioning for him to have a seat as she called for Athrun. Once Athrun was there they all sat down Dearka began to explain why he was there.

"You know Lacus has been working on getting new information from ROW about what they are doing right now and what their plans are," Dearka explained, "I am here because she has recently come accross information that has changed everything, we need to work to find out more. We are running out of time."

"What happened Dearka?" Athrun asked.

"Two days ago Lacus and Waltfeld were investigating what they could from information they hacked from the ROW vessel that attacked us," He stood up and held out a folder of paper that they had not realized he was carrying, "this is some of the information they came across thought a lot of it is very cryptic. Apparently Lacus collapsed during their investigation and she was taking into intensive care." This cause Athrun and Cagalli to both express looks of fear and worry, "don't worry," he reassured them, "she is fine now and Officer Amarfi says that she is still strong enough to keep leading..."

"What was it that shocked her?" Cagalli asked quickly interrupting him.

"It was a report that we came across," he took a heavy breath in, "that has led us to believe that ROW has captured Kira." Athrun stood up with his fist clenched.

"Impossible!!!" Athrun said very loudly.

"We were shocked to sir," Dearka walked to the window of the room, "and now you see that we must find information about this and we must find a way to rescue him."

* * *

"I was a good solider once, and I did everything I was told," Milady said standing in the window of the Reversal watching the ROW base. The Reversal had cloaked itself and hidden near the base. She now stood with Yzak just waiting, waiting for her chance. She was completely focused on the mission ahead but still her mind kept wandering through the events of the past; memories that were triggered by the familiarity of this broken down old place.

"As was I and everyone else here," Yzak said, "we joined you because you provided us with hope that we could make a difference outside of the regular military." She sighed and looked toward him, even through her mask he could see that her eyes were filled with mystery. Her true motivations for Redemption were unknown to all but him.

"You know as well as I that whatever difference we make depends on the people we are able to effect," She unstrapped her mask caressing it and facing her most trusted captain. When she first escaped her past life she did not know who to trust and through a twist of fate she ended up remembering the one person who could help her; a ZAFT solider with fierce determination and with knowledge of what he was doing. She had approached Yzak a couple times regarding the state of the future and when she was sure she could trust him she told him everything. Every twist and turn of the road that her life had embarked on and every plan that she knew could correct it. He had agreed to leave behind everything he had for the sake of the future and together they had built a small but brutally effective collection of militaristic forces.

"If our plan fails?" Yzak asked as he had many times in the past though he knew what words would come from her next.

"It must not for the world even though," she sighed strapping her mask back on and looking up toward space, "we know we can't do this alone." As if the world answered her suddenly the ROW base opened up and out from it flew a medium sized vessel that Milady was sure would contained Liene. Now he would go to his larger base and leave Kira as an easy grab for his enemies.

* * *

She stood leaning on the railing of the bridge in the park, looking down into the pond below. It was raining outside of this covered bridge. She had found herself trapped in the storm and decided to wait it out here. Now she just watched the droplets hit the water, one by one and music filled her mind; the song Leyas Yamato had played earlier with such conviction. A song that Meiko couldn't shake from her mind no matter how much she wanted to. Suddenly loud footseps on the bridge stopped her thought process as she looked up to see a boy running from the rain to the cover the bridge offered.

"Meiko?" he recognized her before she recognized him but she quickly realized who it was thanks to the speeding of her heart.

"Yaro," she said curtly, "what are you doing out here so late?" She had resigned herself to the fact that becoming friends with him would help her mission and had decided to stop being rude though she was still frightened of the idea of actually being friends with him.

"I was watching the sunset and taking a walk," he said catching his breath, he had obviously been running.

"Oh," Meiko continued to peer over the bridge.

"Isn't it beautiful?" he asked walking to stand beside her, "the mist that the rain brings."

"That it is," Meiko pushed herself off the rail and took a couple of nervous steps, "it wraps itself around the trees taking everything over so beautifully, like a healing power over the land. Perhaps that's why we face a storm now, because it will heal this land; the storm of war."

"But not all storms are good," Yaro said picking up a stone that was laying on the bridge and tossing it over the edge, "some can tear apart everything and leave only destruction in their wake. I take it you've been effected by the war?"

"I've already lost so much to it," Meiko said leaning against the rail opposite to him, "I've been searching for answers as to why but so far I've come up with nothing. Reason has clouded my eyes much like a mist that makes it impossible to see and I've never had anyone to help me see."

"Well I'm with you on that one," Yaro replied, "it's hard to understand what is going on around us, but I believe that if we work on discovering the truth then we can learn how to change things." Meiko smiled at his faith and realized that she wanted a friend, perhaps it would work out; perhaps she could open up to someone and have someone who would be there for her. Yaro on the other had was amazed at this girls prescence, it was as if she could command a room if she wanted to. There was something wonderful about her and he longed to learn more.

* * *

**I know I know! It's been forever! I'm so sorry to make you all wait this long!!!! I've been working a lot on school work! I finally had a break this week to work on this and I have been working very hard on it.**

**So not very much action in this one, in my notes I originally planned to map out the battle at the ROW base but I am not very good at battles and I tend to loose motivation when I start to write a battle so I decided that I should finish the chapter alluding to the battle so imagine whatever winning situation you want there.**

**This chapter had Meiko meeting Yaro and Leyas, two people which she is somehow connected with; I wish I could tell you more about where I am going with this all but I don't want to give anything important away. So what do you all thing about the characters now? What are your predictions to what is going to happen next?**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I recieved a few reviews within the last two weeks that really encouraged and reminded me that I should keep going so those help keep them coming!**

**WintersChill**


	13. Reversal

**Sorry for the wait but I had to work on my Gundam 00 story as I have left those readers hanging on since November! Anyways here is the next chapter, enjoy!**

Phase 12 - Reversal

* * *

"It feels a bit odd," Yzak said leaning back against the wall. They both sat in their positions on the bridge of the Reversal; a ship so majestic that their enemies would be scattered at the very sight of them. It was an architectural masterpiece designed by the very best engineers that redemption had to offer. Now they waited like a lion in the grass stalking his prey.

"What?" Milady asked.

"Stalking our enemies; waiting for a chance," Yzak replied. They sat now in a dark place behind the cover of many rocks watching the ROW base, waiting for the moment where they could make their move. They had been listening to transmissions for what seemed like days, they had discovered that Liene was leaving the base soon to head somewhere else. Apparently there was a new machine being developed that he had to oversee.

"Wait," a crew member stood up pointing to the camera. There on the screen was one of the main hangars of the small Mars base, which seemed more like a dirty outpost to him, and out of that hangar came a medium sized craft built for extreme speed.

"That's his ship!" Milady exclaimed standing up as she recognized it instantly. Yzak knew that she would know that ship anywhere, after all she had spent time on the original version of it herself as one of Liene's right hand officers. It was this dark past that she sought to reverse now using her newly launched ship to do it. They were almost ready; soon the battle would begin.

"Prepare the teams," Yzak said, he had waited years for this moment and it was finally here.

* * *

A few hours later it began

"Take us out!" Milady yelled as the Reversals engines fired up, "call mobile suit teams A6 and T9! All ships out now!" With that three other redemption class ships appeared from behind rocks around the base. Milady smiled as she watched the small circle form on the unsuspecting members of the evil organization of ROW.

"Launch long range misses!" Yzak ordered following the detailed plan that had been laid out by their forecasters, "open missile shafts 2 and 3! Aim all main cannons at their watchtowers and standby." Milady held up her hand waiting for the signal from all the ships; they had to move together in order for this plan to be successful.

"FIRE!" she yelled as soon as she had the singnal. Streams of fire power them went from all four ships.

"Jam all communications!" Yzak ordered, "don't let them tell anyone about us!" Five technicians aboard the different ships were there just for that reason; because Liene's ship had just left and they did not want him to know about the battle or the rescue until they were long gone. Milady was sure that if he had been there that his tactics would outweigh hers and send them all off without their goal being met. No they would not loose here, and Kira would be saved though the cost might be high.

"Yzak prepare to launch!" Milady ordered Yzak. He then ran off the bridge toward the mobile suit bay with purpose knowing what his next move would be. He would complete this mission with as much ease as the last one he was sure of it.

"Concentrate fire on all hangars!" Milady yelled stirring up her troops, "don't let them launch anything!"

"Rodger!" Yzak jumped into the honor as a pack of missiles was loaded on it; he launched into the heat of the battle taking out a few mobile suits in his way before heading toward the first ship hangar and opening up a blast of missiles on it. He then took out a few more hangars with backup from other mobile suit teams. Now ROW's own tactics started to kick in and he watched in amazement as four mobile suit teams somehow broke through their line of power from the hangars. He would do his part here but the rescue was up to Gern and Lrise

* * *

"What's going on up there?" Kira asked as blasts continued to rock the base. He had been awakened by the sound of firepower and his head had begun to throb from all the torture that he had endured. The noise was doing nothing for the headache he now had.

"I told you help was coming," Gern said with a smile and Kira noticed he was out of his chains, "and it has come." He walked over to Kira with small lock pick in hand and began to work on Kira's own chains. Kira then began to understand; Gren had not been captured on accident but he had purposefully allowed himself to be brought there because somehow he knew Kira was there and for some reason someone he did not know had set this all up for the sole purpose of rescuing him. Now that the attack was happening outside Kira began to feel a new found hope that soon he would be able to see Lacus and his children again soon.

* * *

"Cease long range bombardment!" Milady yelled, "have half the ships maintain firepower on their cannons! Now Greatness release Lrise, Frelia, and Grant; get Gren and Kira out of there!" The Greatness was one of the main ships and with Milady's command it now broke off from the formation and dropped three pods near the ROW base.

At that instant two ships finally launched from ROWs hangars because they finally had a chance to get out.

"Hold up the ranks!" Milady yelled as the ships bore down toward the line, "engage enemy! Launch mobile suit teams B12 and Y8; Greatness and Sureness now move in toward those ships with the mobile suit teams! All remaining teams focus on the enemy mobile suits! Honor defend the agents. We only have to hold them for a little longer!" She knew they were very close now but ROW was finally starting to catch up with them. If they allowed a few more ships out of the hangars then they just might not make it.

* * *

Lrise moved swiftly through the route he had memorized to the holding cells; he had been trained for this type of combat for years and knew how to remain invisible while moving through the ship at a fast rate. He would be there soon and he hoped that they were not too late to rescue Gren and Kira. He heard a blast from down one of the halls he slopped past and knew that agent Grant had now made it in. He always choose to make a loud entrance rather than to move silently. Grant and Frelia had been given jobs to shut down the systems inside the base while he was sent to move Kira and Gren out.

He made it through the base quickly and arrived at the holding area. The only guard there instantly turned on him but he was the faster draw. His gun was whipped out at the guard laid on the floor dead before anyone could even blink. He quickly rushed to the controls and hacked them opening the large metal doors to the cell. He smiled as they rolled back to reveal Gren standing there supporting a very weak Kira Yamato. The sight of Kira inspired hope in Lrise and Milady had promised it would and Lrise rushed forward to help Gren.

"Took you long enough!" Gren complained, "you don't know how bad the food is here! Next time you wait in the cell!"

"There is not going to be a next time brother!" Lrise said smiling at his younger brother, "the Reversal has been launched and Milady Redemption is now on the rise."

* * *

"The Greatness is in a bad position Milady," one of the bridge members said, "and the Sureness is being bombarded by mobile suits."

"Just a little more time," Milady gritted her teeth and began to switch tactics, "Launch our final two mobile suit teams and have the Mightness battle those two ships along with the Sureness and Greatness. Move the Reverasal in!" Everyone quickly worked to obey her orders knowing that their lives all hung in the balance of their leaders plan.

"Now Honor!" She called for Yzak who instantly responded, "defend us! We are going to blow the final hangar with everything! We can't have them launch anything else!"

"Rodger!" Yzak responded moving with the reversal and fighting off any mobile suit units that dare to interfere with them.

* * *

Lrise, Gren and Kira ran through the base as Lrise measured their location. He smiled as they reached the checkpoint and Kira looked confused when they stopped running but the two brothers did not offer any explanation. The seconds seemed to pass by very slowly as Lrise counted down. They would be out of there soon and then the next part depended on Frelia and Yzak. Frelia would set a virus in ROW's computer systems and Yzak would defend their escape.

"Three, Two, One," Lrise whispered as the wall down the hall from them suddenly exploded and a small craft came from behind it. Lrise smiled as it pulled up to them and it's doors opened revealing Grant inside.

"Need a lift," Grant said and Kira began to wonder what sort of organization these guys belonged to.

"Just on time Grant!" Gren said jumping in, "now get us out of here." A few ROW guards began to run into the room but they were too late as the small craft reversed and shot through the path it had cleared into space.

* * *

"Milady!" A crew member yelled in triumph, "Grant just picked up Lrise and the two prisoners! They are on their way out here!" Milday smiled at this as she realized that they may make it out of this yet. She was still nervous though as she saw a third ship attempt to leave one of the hangars.

"Have the Honor defend them!" she yelled standing up, "and signal our troops we are leaving the battlefield as soon as they board!" Yzak's image was instantly before her on her screen.

"I have them!" he said, "I'm guiding them and we should be there in 20 seconds! Have everyone ready to leave at that time." Milady acknowledged the information and relayed it.

"19 seconds!" she said to all her troops over the loudspeaker, "gear up back engines prepare to fly past the base over their towers! Remember concentrate all shields to the bottom of your ships as we pass over full speed! Concentrate! All mobile suit teams back to your ships! 15 seconds!" As their flares went up she watched her mobile suit teams, which were now much smaller than they were before the battle stream back.

"10 seconds!" she announced as she waited for Yzak to say that the small craft was aboard.

"We've lost Frelia's signal!" a crew member announced and everyone on the ship looked shocked.

"Just conentrate! 7 seconds!" she sat down now and watched the clock waiting.

"5 seconds!"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"1!" she yelled the last one as the green light appeared that Grant's craft and Yzaks suit were now aboard the ship! "All redemption vessels fly now." Everyone aboard the four crafts felt the sudden pull as the engines fired up at two speed and the ships began to take off over the base.

"The base is launching their ships now!" a crew member said with concern. This meant nothing to Milady as she knew once they ceased bombardment everything would launch. She watched as they pulled farther and farther away though many shots were fired at the ship and many of them did hit.

"The Greatness is experiencing problems!" Another crew member cried out, "they are being pinned back!" Milady frowned as she knew they could not go back for the ship and if it did not pull out it was lost.

"Tell them to hurry!" she cried, "we don't want to loose anyone!" Suddenly a red light went off on the side of her chair and she knew what had happened.

"The Greatness is gone!" the crew member cried when another shouted in triumph.

"We're out of their firing range," the member said standing up, "and the ships have stopped pursuit. Milady bowed her head in thanks to the unseen power that had allowed them to be successful and in reverence to the lives that were lost on the battlefield before them. She now prayed their lives had not been lost in vain.

* * *

Milady entered the medical bay knowing that this moment was not going to be easy for her and she had been praying for strength to see it through since she set out on the mission to rescue Kira. Now she had to see him, to attend to him and to see if he had made it out alright for she feared that ROW had treated him very harshly and that his health would be failing when he arrived. She walked into the room and saw Gren and Lrise standing off to the side as the doctors began to examine a very weak looking Kira Yamato.

"Milady," both Gren and Lrise saluted as she walked in and Kira looked up to see a redhead woman standing before him clad in a white uniform wearing a white mask hiding most of her face and her eyes. She seemed very calm and the others treated her like their leader.

"Gren, Lrise," she said saluting back and smiling, "you both did well out there today; you're performance in the line of duty was inspiring. Keep up the good work, for I fear there will be many battles ahead where your skills will be needed." She then turned and walked to the doctor who now stood in front of a computer screen examining some of Kira Yamato's tests.

"How is he doctor?" she asked.

"I am fine," Kira spoke up before the doctor could say anything, "just take me back to my family!" Milady looked at him with a slightly saddened look as she knew that she could not grant his request at this time. Lacus was safe but it would be better if no one enter her hideout as ROW and the PLANTs had people everywhere trying to find the Clyne Faction base. She also knew that Kira's kids were on earth in ORB, a reckless move on Lacus's part, and it was out of the question to send him there. The political landscape of the world was very messed up right now and she was unable to do anything about that, though she prayed she would be able to change it soon.

"Rest assured that your family is safe," Milady said looking toward him, "And any reckless moves on our part could jeopardize that and you would not want us to place them in danger."

"Who are you?" Kira asked. She smiled at that as she knew exactly who she was. Her life had led her through many things that most people would not have been able to endure yet here she stood strong and ready for anything. Her troops had just completed and almost impossible and dangerous mission with ease and care; she only regretted that some lives were lost.

"My name is Milady Redemption," she responded to his question with pride evident in the way she stood and spoke, "I am the founder and leader of a military organization known as Redemption which was created for the sole purpose of defeating ROW and saving this world from total destruction."

"Where is my family?" He asked; she was prepared for this as she knew he must have been through a lot in ROW. He was separated from those he loved for too long and in the darkest sort of way, and Liene would not have been lenient on him. Glancing over the doctors shoulder she saw that the tests were not looking very good. ROW had used very powerful drugs on him to try and make him do something or say something; what she did not know. She only knew they had not succeeded as Kira was in no way broken; the way he spoke was as strong as ever.

"There will be time for all that later," she replied putting a hand on the doctors shoulder, "but for now you must rest. You are a guest here until we can find a safe way to send you back to your family." She then walked out with the doctor trailing behind her.

"It's a miracle he survived all this!" the doctor said urgently.

"It's no miracle," Milady turned around with a smile, "he's done it before; after all he is the Ultimate Coordinator."

"I am still worried," the doctor replied, "these readings are terrible! It will be hard to tell if he will recover for a couple of weeks."

"I am worried as well," Milady replied, "he must be in perfect health before he is sent home. Please have him hospitalized and monitored 24/7! Report everything to me. Lacus needs him back completely whole for only then can they face what is coming."

* * *

Yzak floated down the halls of the Reversal searching for his leader, the white lady of redemption. Their mission had bee successful though there were lives lost and he knew she would take every death as a personal offense against her. Milady was not like other leaders in the world, she knew every single person that joined Redemption and she worked to form relationships with them all. No doubt she knew the names of all those who had died and that now she would be praying for their souls. He frowned as he finally arrived at his destination; a room in the Reversal that had a stunning view of space and as he expected there stood Milady caressing her mask and crying over those who had died.

"Frelia was a dear friend of mine Yzak," she said knowing he was there. He nearly smiled at her instincts and how much she knew about how he would approach. He did not doubt any of her words.

"I know Milady," he replied placing an arm around her, "it is a price we all agreed to pay when we joined redemption. We all pledged we would do everything we could even if it cost us our lives to save the world. Frelia and the others were no different, they wanted to see this thing through as much as we both do and their deaths were not in vain." He was sure that she knew everything he said was true as she had once told him these words but he knew it would do little to comfort her. Death had followed her for a long time, from the first time she watched someone she cared about die. Yzak was the only person who really knew her past and sometimes he wondered how she had even been able to tell everything to him.

"We must not fail them," Milady said raising her head and wiping the tears from her eyes, instantly the sadness was replaced with determination, "we have to find her Yzak!" Milady looked at him with urgency, "I'm tired of Liene playing with me like this! We are getting Kira back to Lacus then we are fighting with everything we have for her!" Yzak let a cocky grin onto his face.

"Should I contact base?" He asked knowing exactly what plan would be placed into action.

"Tell them that the time is now," her eyes were full of fire, she had waited seventeen years for this, "tell them that we will take Liene's greatest warrior from him and that we will breathe life into this dying world!" Yzak knew her words were true for this is why he had joined redemption.

"The Resurrection will launch then," he said, "and the world will be redeemed!"

"Along with Meiko's soul," Milady said speaking the name she had not spoken for so long; she would save the child whose destiny it was to save the world.

* * *

Dearka Elsman wandered the streets of ORB aimlessly as he had some time on his hands and it had been a long time since he had been here. Athrun and Cagalli were trying to sort out what to do with the recent news he told them and Lacus had given him express orders to stay in ORB since there were to many spies waiting for someone to follow back to the Clyne faction base. He enjoyed the peace of ORB for now but he still felt the pressing weight of the problems that they were all facing in the world. It seemed that things couldn't get worse which worried him because he knew they could always get worse.

"Dearka?" he heard a questioning female voice and turned to see the last person he expected to run into, Miriallia Haw! They dated for a short time after the first war and then ran into each other a few times around the time of the Gibraltar incident but he had not seen her since; over ten years had gone by.

"Miriallia?" he mustered, "I forgot you lived in ORB." She smiled at this, he had always been a very forgetful person.

"Well you're the last person I expected to see this morning," she responded, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure I should discuss that on the street," he responded knowing that she would understand this. They were both part of the alliance between ORB, Lacus and a few other small powers. Mirallia herself was still part of the Archangel crew, though the ship had not been since since the Gibraltar incident. He had seen her name in the listings while in space and knew she was still loyal.

"I understand," she replied, "but I still would like to know how things are doing; the world is in such a messed up state right now."

"Well I'm staying with Athrun and Cagalli," he responded with a smile, "If you stopped by sometime then I would be able to fill you in about all the things that are happening. It's been a pretty crazy few months." She did not doubt that, with Lacus's escape, Kira's disappearance, the unrest in ORB, Cagalli's assassination attempt and the escalation of trouble in the world things did not seem to be slowing down but rather speeding up toward something huge.

"I think I'll take you up on that," she replied, "I am working for a news station but even we don't get everything; there is so much I want to know about what is happening around us. But listen I have to run, I have to meet Murrue and Mu about some things." She stopped and looked at him and then added, "you know why don't you come with me? I'm sure that where I am going will be a safe place to talk about everything and I am sure that Murrue and Mu would both like to know everything that is going on as well."

"Sure," he responded, "I have the rest of the day off so I can come."

* * *

Murrue Ramius sat in silence as she felt the weight of everything Dearka had told her, Mu and Miriallia; she had missed too much in the past few months. It was still hard for her to see the kids she fought with now as adults when they were forced to face so much so young. Now it seemed that things were getting worse and on top of that she had no idea that Lacus and Kira's children had been in ORB for awhile. She hadn't seen them since Kayla was a newborn and she was sure they had grown up a lot. When thinking about it all she felt fear for Kira's situation, all they knew is he might have been captured by ROW or he might be dead. She had watched him grow up quickly and she knew how much he had affected the lives of the people around him; it would be devastating to them all to loose him and if they did Lacus would break.

"I can't believe we've missed so much being down here in ORB," Mu said summing up her feelings. She turned to him seeing him sitting by their adopted son, Talia Gladys's boy Jacob Gladys. Jacob was a couple years older than Yaro and he went to a military university in ORB.

"Kira," Murrue said looking back to Dearka, "Oh, what should we do? How is Lacus taking all this?"

"I haven't spoken to her in awhile," Dearka replied with sadness in his eyes, "but last time I saw her she was trying very hard to hold it together. She has so many people around her to help her though so I am sure that they are supporting her. Basically all we can do now is hope that things turn around soon. The way things look now..."

"I still think ROW has something they haven't revealed yet," Mu spoke up, "there is so much going on now but I don't think we've seen their worst and it makes me wonder what is coming. I'm not as young as I used to be but if things get worse the battlefield may become the safest place for all of us."

"And what of the two ROW pilots you spoke of?" Murrue asked, "do you think that ROW might have people that can rival Athrun or Shinn?"

"I got beat bad in space," Dearka said with a heaviness on him, "by a new mobile suit and a pilot with skill that I have never seen before. It was sheer luck that Yaro and Uzumi lived fighting that pilot. I don't know how much luck we have left against them."

"It's not luck, Right will always win," Jacob spoke up, "no matter how bad things get they have to get better soon! I know that this sounds so typical of someone who hasn't witnessed these things first hand but we can't give up hope!" Murrue smiled at her son's words, he had been raised based on the belief in hope and it had been hope that lit a fire in the lives of her and her ship eighteen years before in the bloody valentine war. Hope was all they had left; hope that somehow something from above would save them from what was coming. She then knew that they would have to pray for someone to come save them, for they were running out of time.

* * *

Andrew Waltfeld sipped his coffee while glancing over the updates on the new mobile suits the Clyne faction was working on. Though they would not be done for some time it was still important to oversee every detail of their designs. The engineers who worked on them now had been assigned by Lacus three years before to pave the way for new advancements in mobile suit technology because she wanted to make sure her pilots were protected. The engineers had made some new discoveries about mobile suit armor that astounded Waltfeld; these new mobile suits were sure to be a force to reckon with.

He put the designs down realizing that he had nearly memorized them and that he would not be able to find a flaw with them, though others might. These designs were perfect in his mind. Now he turned his attention back to the computer in front of him. Many of the computer scientists in the Clyne faction had been working for the past few days on trying to find ROW frequencies and networks to hack. The news that Kira might have been captured by ROW had everyone in the faction worried. Kira was no doubt one of the greatest mobile suit pilot in the world and having him on their side made them a force to be reckoned with. Waltfeld worried for his safety and so far no one had been able to find anything about him using their methods. Still they all waited patiently for someone to find an answer about what was going on.

"You won't find anything," He looked up to see Lacus Clyne herself walk in. He had protected her since she was very young and in watching her grow up he had learned that she had an unparalleled ability to understand the things around her and to make the best of her situation. She had been able to keep her head through so many things, including the disaster of the Gibraltar incident where everyone was sure they would loose her. Now she was able to keep her head through Kira's disappearance and possibly his capture. She showed no signs of breaking.

"Just give us some time Lacus," he responded, knowing that she would never really give up on Kira.

"No," she looked down then looked up at him with hope filling her eyes; it was her hopeful gaze that had inspired the masses in the past two wars. Her eyes had told a story of loss and despair but they had been filled with an undying hope that the world would be set right she spoke with authority and assurance in such a way that no one could doubt her words.

"Kira is alive," she said confidently, "and I somehow know now that he is safe and that we can rest easy. I know it may sound crazy but me and Kira have been bound together since the first time I saw him and I do not doubt that somehow if he was captured that he has escaped." Waltfeld did not doubt her connection with Kira but he did doubt that Kira was completely safe.

"Nevertheless," Waltfeld stood up to refill his glass with more coffee, "we will continue looking for him."

"I know," Lacus sat down, "I just am happy to feel like he is safe. You know how much I care about him and I just really want to see him again."

"I know Lacus," Waltfeld sighed, "I know."

* * *

***One Month Later***

* * *

They walked together in silence as they found each others presence comforting a month ago. He enjoyed her company and she enjoyed the light she felt radiating from him. Together they found solace from the world and for one month they spent any free moments they got together, strolling through parks and searching for remote places around ORB. She was always mysterious and at times a bit confusing but it did not bother him at all. She found him to be very pleasant and wise and though her mind told her to stay away from him her heart had been longing for a friend; someone to have by her side and someone who she could trust would not desert her.

Yaro and Meiko were just right for each other. He was all light and she was all darkness; complete opposites somehow bound together by some fate and Meiko believed that those same fates were laughing at her weakness but she did not care anymore. She had lived life alone and she believed she deserved some comfort while she was forced to live here in ORB. She had not spent all her time idly hanging around with Yaro; she had taken the time to befriend Uzumi and she was waiting very patiently to be invited over by him so that she could see what it was that was going on behind the gates of the Attha mansion. Uzumi, though very friendly still seemed to be spending a lot of time alone at school and everywhere else for whatever reason. She recognized what was going on with him immediately; he was feeling the darkness that she had felt her entire life. She wanted to help him but she did not know how as she had never been able to escape the darkness herself.

"Look there," she was brought out of her thoughts by Yaro's kind voice as he pointed out toward the sky over the sea. She paused for a second to try and see what it was he was pointing at as they were walking along the cliffs. She gazed for awhile and finally saw it; a flock of birds was flying toward the cliffs with the wind.

"They're beautiful," she said as his hand fell to his side, "they are so free."

"If only the whole world could feel as free as they do," he replied taking a seat on one of the rocks, she sat beside him picturing what it would be like if everyone traveled the world peacefully like a bird, never raising a hand to fight another.

"It's as if they don't have a worry in the world," she said looking toward her calloused hands, "and when I see them I wish I could be like them. I want a future free of cares and worries." She clenched her hands into fists and let them fall to her sides; he had noticed in the last month that her hands seemed to always be curled into fists, never open and free as most people's were. He wondered about her as she had never spoken about her past, only about the present and about the future.

"I believe in the future," Yaro began to open up to his own thoughts and speak them, "a future that can be free of war and strife and of tyrants like ROW." Meiko stiffened at the mention of ROW. Yaro began to think more about her as they sat in a short bout of silence; she always reacted to the mention of ROW, could it be that her family was killed by ROW. "You know you've never told me where you are from. Were you from one of those nations that is suffering under ROW control right now?" Meiko seemed to stiffen more at this question.

"Yes," she finally responded realizing that it was not really a lie, she lived in space under ROW, "I lived in a nation where peace should reign because there was no reason for things to be so bad yet it was so dark. I never felt happy there and I think that here in ORB for the first time ever I almost feel a little happy." He impulsively put an arm around her and she leaned into him, "what about you Yaro? Where are you from?"

"I am from the PLANTs," he replied immediately then he realized he could not tell her the whole story so he went into the official one that Cagalli's people had given him, "I graduated from a prep school up there then decided to come here for a forgiven exchange program. I wanted the top ORB military training but it seems you're better than anyone in our class without it." She frowned at that; he did not even know what she was capable of in a mobile suit. She had taken battlefields completely over with no help from anyone. She had also become one of ROW's top assassins. She had killed time and time again and she did not deserve his kindness, remembering that she quickly pulled away from him and stood up. "We should keep walking," was all she said. He followed her and they walked together for another half and hour in silence which he spent wondering what he had done wrong.

"The sun is almost gone," Meiko finally spoke up breaking the silence, "we should start heading back."

"You know Meiko," he said not responding to what she had said, "I can't quite figure you out." She stiffened again at his words, and for a second he was distracted how beautiful she was but he soon got back to what he was saying, "you're just different, I mean at one moment you're completely open then the next you shut everyone out."

"Is there a point to you saying all this," she said turning to him with a fire in her eyes he had never seen before. It scared him a little but he was relentless and he needed to let her know that.

"Let me finish," he said putting a hand on her arm, "through everything I see a light in you that I think perhaps you do not see, a bright light that reminds me so much of something, yet I can't place it. You are amazing Meiko, and I don't think you believe it which is why I have to say it." Her muscles relaxed as her mind began to think of what he had just said. She saw his admiration for her in his eyes and once again knew she did not deserve it but before she could say something his com phone started ringing.

"Hello," he walked a short distance away obviously talking to someone who was frustrated as he got a little flustered; after a few moments he walked back toward her, "my brother Kiran is being anxious and apparently Uzumi has been looking for me so I have to go home." She thought for a moment about his connection with Uzumi before speaking again.

"Where exactly do you live?" she asked; it had always been something she wondered since he apparently had a little brother named Kiran and they both hung around Uzumi a lot. She had let him into her apartment before but he had never shown her his home.

"With Uzumi," he replied a little quickly then realized it probably didn't sound right, "I mean me and him became friends through my foreign exchange program and his mother offered me and my brother a place to stay while we were here." Meiko instantly knew what she had to do. Uzumi was never going to invite her over but Yaro might; though she hated using him like this she had a mission and that was her reason for being in ORB.

"You know maybe I could come visit you tomorrow," she said with a small smile trying to use whatever he saw in her against him.

"I don't know how that would work," Yaro responded, "I can't really invite people over, it's not my home." This bothered him as he really did want her over. She however did not mind, the idea was planted in his head and she was sure he would follow up on it.

"I understand," she said using her sweetest fake smile, "perhaps another time."

So they walked on for a little while longer. Speaking simple words to each other and neither of them realized that they both were lying to themselves and to each other.

* * *

Note by note she played the tune again letting it wash through her as it had the first time she had ever played it. It was beautiful, haunting, melodic and hopeful. It was unfinished. Leyas frustratingly erased the lyric she had just written and began playing the melody again. The perfect lyrics had to exist somewhere but she couldn't find them. She played the song again a little faster before letting her head drop on the piano, this was not working at all. She had been working on it for a month and nothing seemed to come together.

"You've been playing that same melody for the past three hours, don't you have homework?" She turned around to see her younger sister Kayla smiling at her. Kayla was followed by their mothers pink Haro which had accompanied Kayla to earth. The sight of the small round robot reminded Leyas of her mother, which whom Leyas had written many of her greatest songs. Now here she was trying to work with a melody she was sure would be a winner yet she could not think of any lyrics that would fit. The tune was too complicated for her, just like the world she was living in. It had movements of Mystery, sorrow, fear, and at the chorus to entered into a feeling of hope. The whole tune was wrapped up in a questioning chord and Leyas really felt all the emotions belonged to her and to that girl she had met a month earlier in the school auditorium, the day she had first played the tune.

"It's just a little something I've been trying to finish," Leyas said running her fingers across the ivory keys, "I can't seem to think of any good lyrics for it, but I can't give up on it because I think it might be the greatest thing I've ever written." Kayla walked forward thinking about what her sister was saying and remembering the tune, It was so beautiful and she really loved what her sister had come up with. It was very intriguing to the young girl.

"Play the first verse again," Kayla said sitting next to her sister, "perhaps I can help." Leyas smiled obliging her litter sister, she doubted Kayla could help but at this point it was worth a try to let the little girl hear and understand. After playing the first verse Leyas turned to Kayla.

"I have a line I like so far," Leyas then played again singing it.

_Running, through the dark _

_I've found a light so small_

These were words she felt were true through everything she went through in space. She had seen death and fear all around her yet in the midst of that there seemed to be a light of hope shining. She had longed for the source of that hope and she had hoped that she could capture it.

"Well What about this next," Kayla said motioning for Leyas to play more and singing a line she had just thought

_Unsure, I embark_

_And my fear I forestall_

"I like that," Leyas said writing it down quickly, "I really like that." The two worked together for the next two hours thinking of lyrics until they were called to dinner and after dinner they returned to the song. It was the first time Leyas had ever written a song with her little sister who loved poetry which explained her skill with words and rhymes. Kayla was happy to be spending time with her older sister for the first time in a long time, the two had grown distant since Leyas seemed to lock herself away after their father left. After another day of work Kayla called Cagalli and Athrun in to hear the finished product, Leyas's perfect song.

_Running, through the dark I've found a light so small_

_Unsure, I embark and my fear I forestall_

_Cause my heart has broken from lies I'm told_

_And I can not find a way to reach my dream_

_Can You understand why this has to end_

_Can you see the truth of everything we've done_

_Keep us warm, through this storm_

_I know that this night will end_

_Though this dark is long, hate does not belong_

_In this world that we love and that we fight for_

_Give us peace and strength now_

_In these hardships we fear now_

_We will search__ for our hope, carry on_

_Breaking, all the death and all the hatred in our hearts_

_Shaking, take a breath, keep moving on and on_

_Cause our thoughts are chosen and our minds our broken_

_And everything that we believe is gone_

_Can you feel the pain, do you take the blame_

_For the lives that will never come back to breathe the air again  
_

_I know that this night will end_

_Very soon this fighting__ it has to end  
_

_Peace must come from our hearts to heal this broken land__  
_

_Give us peace and strength now, In these hardships we fear now_

_We will fight, through this night__, we will carry on_

_I have fought For so long, I can't see the sun through the night_

_And no one is there to save me from these fears that I hold_

_It's getting cold and I am alone, then I turn to see the light_

_Still beside me leading me on, Through this never ending storm_

_I know that this night will end _

_Very soon this fighting__ it has to end  
_

_Peace must come__ from our hearts to heal this broken land__  
_

_And I will love you through everything_

_To this one small hope I cling, we will survive_

_Through this night__, Carry on_

_and on and on and on, Carry on, please please carry on_

Leyas smiled when her song was finished as it conveyed everything she had wanted. Cagalli and Athrun clapped and looked at her with a bit of surprise. The two girls had conveyed feelings of grief and fear through their song that unnerved the older woman simply because she knew them so well. Though all seemed hopeless the young still clung to this seemingly evasive hope; the song was meant to inspire many and to fulfill the dreams of a peaceful word. Cagalli knew that it had to come soon before all people on earth lost this hope and with that hope they would loose their strength._  
_

* * *

He is trying to be strong yet there is a darkness growing in his mind, he had carried the burdens of so many for so long and he knew that it was not going to end well for him. He sliced thought he mobile suit in front of him effortlessly letting got of the controls momentarily before grasping them tightly again. The battle was heavy and the forces kept coming at him. Letting out a yell he brandished two identical cannons and fired them rapidly at the host of oncoming enemies. His aim was accurate and most of them went down with a single shot, others made it through his barricade. He pulled out his twin beam sabers and spun gracefully about his enemies leading them in a deadly dance of death. After dispatching the next group he held his sabers tightly and gritted his teeth.

He watched the enemy ship in the distance waiting for it to come. He eyes were darkened and though he knew he was better than all of them a fear pressed in his mind. He was loosing something, a part of himself. It had been slowly dissolving inside of him every time he grasped these controls. He watched in anger as the ship refused to launch any more mobile suits, it would not do. Charging forward he went to fight the enemy but it seemed they did have one more mobile suit and he knew it was foolish to fight it so close to the ship but at this point he was tired of waiting for this battle to be over. It was time for him to end it, he could do it be himself because he was the best. No matter what they said he was the best and it was his duty to destroy his enemies for the fate of the world had to be changed. People depended on him, and the lives of the people he cared about were in his hands! He let out a battle cry and attacked the mobile suit while dodging fire from the ship.

This one was much better than the last swarms he had been able to defeat, not only that it seemed to get better as he fought it. shot after shot, beams crashing together; the mobile suit before him would not back down and it showed no sign of getting weaker. He fought desperately knowing that he had to win this. It was up to him to save them all. He fought harder and harder until something exploded in the back of his mind as a power flowed through him he had never felt before. His fighting became stronger and his enemy was now loosing. As he moved to land the killing blow the images around him faded and he found himself in the simulator.

As the door opened he angrily stormed out to see his father standing waiting for him.

"You've passed your old scores Uzumi," Athrun said putting a hand on his shoulder, "well done."

"It's not enough!" Uzumi protested, "why did you stop it?"

"There are things you are not ready to face," Athrun responded walking toward the exit, "and there are things within your mind which you do not understand now. But they are things you must learn to control before you can continue."

"But I was winning!" Uzumi said, "Why don't you ever let me keep on fighting."

"You've been angry lately," Athrun said, "too angry for your own good. On a battlefield you have to control your anger, you can't let it consume you for if it does you may do things you'll regret later or worse you'll loose your focus and become unable to continue fighting."

"But anger makes people stronger!" Uzumi said, "and we need strength to stay alive!"

"True, many great warriors experience anger and win their battles; but the greatest warriors of all control their anger and do not let it control them." Uzumi breathed out heavily as his father left the room. It was getting to be too much for him. He had been trained to fight all his life and he had proven himself on the battlefield but he still felt as though he wasn't strong enough, as though something was going to happen that was beyond his control. He felt darkness all around him and there was no way for him to escape it. It was suffocating him and he did not know why but he did know that it started the day his mother was almost assassinated. He was beginning to fear the darkness in his own mind but he knew that he had to keep going for the fate of the world, for the people he loved; he had to be strong.

* * *

Shinn walked down the dark hallway with sureness grasping the gun in his hand and keeping his eyes peeled for trouble, though Meyrin had assured him and Lunamaria that this place was completely abandoned. They had stumbled across this place as they were crossing the Saharan desert and they had found it intriguing as it seemed completely empty and the outside bore a strange symbol with a R, a ribbon and a rose. It was clear that it was abandoned but it was also clear that someone had been here recently.

As he searched around he came to the conclusion that whoever had abandoned it had left in a hurry. Lunamaria followed him saying nothing and he knew just by that, that she had the same eerie feeling that he had. Something about this place was very odd indeed. They walked on together in silence opening rooms filled with furniture. Finally they found a room different than all the rest. It was very large and had a large screen that he was sure belonged to a computer so he sat down on it and turned it on. Lunamaria began to search around the room as there seemed to be a few folders jammed in the walls. As the computer started up he realized it was like all the computers in this base, all the data had been completely erased and whoever had done it had left no traces of what information it might have previously contained. What ever organization had been here had not left clues to whoever might arrive here after they left.

"I found something," Lunamaria declared surprising him as he was sure they would find nothing but the strange symbol which appeared almost everywhere. He turned to see her holding a few pieces of paper in her hands and she walked toward him with surprise on her face.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Photos," she responded holding them out to her and he looked them over. They were small obviously taken with security cameras, some better than others. One was of a little girl with long red hair and striking violet eyes and the other was of a similar girl only older and he concluded that they were the same girl. Was she the person who had lived here before? He couldn't quite understand it but there was something about her that he found very odd, kinda like this place.

"Who do you think lived here?" Lunamaria asked, "all I can find are the words Redemption Shall Come, written on some papers."

"I don't know," Shinn responded looking down at the photos again, "but whoever they were, they are long gone now."

* * *

Uzumi walked through the park trying to clear his head. He was supposed to be the strong one and now he felt he was growing weaker as time went on and he wasn't even fighting or facing everything he was just training and this weakness made no sense. His father was right he had been angry, mostly at ROW because of what they were doing and what they had tried to do to his mother and to his aunt Lacus. They were crossing the line in trying to hurt his family and now his uncle might be in their clutches. The information had come a month ago yet Lacus sent new information that she feels that he is safe. It trouble Uzumi that they were doing nothing about it and just trusting Lacus's feelings. It had been a month and no sign of Kira yet Lacus refused to believe that she might be wrong.

The people around Uzumi did not seem to realize his weakness which was good as he wanted them to be able to depend on him in the coming storm. He wanted to be as strong as possible for he needed to protect the ones he cared about; his family.

He began to walk a little faster as the sun was near set and most people were out of the park at this time of night so he was free to pick up his pace. He turned his head toward a small park and saw a girl with long red hair sitting on one of the swings and looking out toward the pond. It did not take him more than a few seconds to recognize her as Meiko Virea, the friend he had made before school and the girl with whom Yaro seemed to spend large amounts of time. She seemed lost in thought but he approached her anyway knowing that it would be rude to pass by without even saying hello.

"Hey," he said as he walked toward her and she turned to face him. She had not expected it to be Uzumi as it was usually Yaro she ran into at this time of day and she smiled. Inwardly she hated the fact that he was her mission and that every encounter she had with the kind boy was simply the reason why she was in ORB in the first place.

"Hi," she replied and though her face smiled her voice was downcast. He sat down on the swing next to her, his presence was calming to her numb mind.

"I hardly ever see Yaro now," Uzumi said breaking the calm silence, "is he always with you?"

"Kinda," Meiko replied rocking back and forth a little, "sometimes. We've been exploring ORB together." He smiled at that, Yaro had been very overwhelmed in space and he needed some type of enjoyment before the inevitable battle that was soon to come. Meiko seemed to be a sweet girl and her and Uzumi got along very well. But now he began to notice something different about her as the sunset; her eyes were empty and not full of life as they seemed to be during the day. There was something about her that had always been strange to him. He wondered what she had been through to make her like this. Her shoulders slumped hopelessly and her expression seemed sad. He noticed her hands were not open and free but rather curled into fists as if she was expecting to have to fight something at any moment.

"Are you okay?" he asked with concern.

She looked at him with sorrow and responded, "are any of us?" He felt the full weight of her words and felt his own confusion rise up in his soul. It was as if she had seen through him and she had found his weakness. True, Meiko had sensed his confusion as he approached for some reason and it had brought up her own sadness as it seemed that there was something similar about them.

"It's just hard now," he looked down, "you know what I mean."

"Yeah," she looked up toward the sky, "I know what it's like to feel afraid." Then she looked toward him. They then sat together in silence both feeling the darkness they shared and both knowing they can not escape from what is coming soon.

* * *

Trey watched in horror as Gilligan beat a prisoner without a thought. He had been summoned to speak with his captain and he had walked into this. The thing Trey had hated about ROW from day one was the organizations blatant disregard for human life and the importance of the individual. Officers in ROW could care less how someone felt about something, they were ruthless and their methods were hard. Trey knew he did not belong here but he stayed because it was safe and everyday he felt like a coward.

Trey saw that the prisoner was getting weak as Gilligan repeatedly asked him to talk. About what Trey did not know and he couldn't just stand by and watch this injustice. Acting impulsively he jumped between Gilligan and the prisoner.

"That's enough!" He said forcefully, "you'll kill him if you don't stop!" Gilligan looked at Trey with rage in his eyes but Trey was not afraid he had see this so many times.

"Get out of my way Trey!" he yelled, "this prisoner is a member of Redemption and if he doesn't talk he deserves to die!" Trey knew the name redemption was quite a touchy one with a lot of the upper division ROW officers and he often wondered why. Redemption was just a misguided organization, what about them was so enraging to everyone around him? Sure they had beaten the Prejudice in a very one sided battle but the Eternal had beaten them as well and he had never seen such hatred in the eyes of the officers when he mentioned Lacus Clyne. Something about Redemption just made them go off like bombs and Trey wanted to know why.

"Well you have no right to beat him to death!" Trey yelled, "if you want information from him I suggest you make sure you keep him alive." This was an argument Trey hated but he had heard it used by Liene himself when officers tortured prisoners so he hoped that it would work on Gilligan.

"His life is not your concern Trey!" Gilligan responded getting more angry but Trey stood his ground defending the helpless boy.

"Human life is my concern!" Trey yelled getting angrier as well. The man in front of him had no regard for anything or anyone and it enraged him, "It is unjust to beat a man to death for the crimes of an organization he is in! You don't even know his story, who he is! What he might have been forced to do and you are going to kill him? Do you not understand that it is because of people like you that war still exists in the world!" Gilligan was more angry than ever now Trey had no right to question his authority.

"You are weak," he spat at Trey. He then pulled out a small rod and clicked a button, instantly fire shot through Trey's body as electricity spewed from the rod. He let out a yell of pain unable to control himself. Gilligan smiled and called for guards turning off the small rod. Trey laid on the ground breathing hard unable to think from what had just happened.

"It seems you have a lot to learn Trey," Gilligan said, "and you will not stand in anyone's way. Lock him up!" The guards grabbed Trey's weak form and dragged him along. He knew he had failed as he heard the screams of the boy echoing in the halls but today he had found his courage and ROW could no longer control him.

* * *

Liene stood at the forefront of the largest hangar he had ever been in staring in awe at the masterpiece before him. He had waited for this day patiently, the day his true ship would be completed and now here it was. He smiled wryly and turned to the four officers with him.

"The day is drawing near," he said, "the day ROW shows its superiority to the world. No one, not even Redemption will stand in our way!" He turned to one of them, Mike Shurstre, "the time has come to check on Meiko! She has probably made some progress and we need to bring her back soon. Her battle will be the greatest ever seen in the universe." Mike didn't doubt Liene's words for he knew in his heart that Meiko was changing and that her stay in ORB would lead her to find herself. Her battle would be the greatest ever but it would not be for Liene, but for herself.

* * *

**This is a long one, I wasn't expecting it to be so long but I guess the story is beginning to escalate since we are finally at an uphill toward the end of the first arc of this story.**

**Preview: So far - Kira's capture has led Redemption onto the battlefield to rescue him. Lacus's escape has led Meiko to ORB and Yaro to the cockpit of a mobile suit. While Athrun and Cagalli fight the political landscape of the world Uzumi fights an inner darkness that begins to weigh on his mind. Shinn and the Minerva crew have gone into the world to find out more about ROW. Leyas prays for hope and Kiran looks for ways to help his family. Liene has not unleashed his full power yet and Meiko is being forced into something she does not want. With everything escalating Meiko and Yaro have somehow forged a bond that might get in the way of both their battles. Will Kira be alright after being rescued? Will Uzumi escape his darkness? Will Yaro somehow discover himself? And will Meiko be forced to choose between the life she has always lived and the life she could have? **

**What do you all think about what is happening and what is going to happen? Your reviews and comments and predictions will help me get the next chapter done faster, I am serious it really does help. **

**And I want to know if any of you saw the concept art on my picture trail? I posted the link in my last authors note.**

**So please you review, look at the concept art and enjoy what is to come!  
**

**Thanks for reading**

**more to come**

**winterschill  
**


	14. Past, Present and Future

**After reading Survivor18's comments I decided to include a scene of Gibraltar recap in this chapter because as Survivor18 pointed out it is important and you all know nothing about it and the story hasn't progressed at this point. I am still planning on writing that story as to me it is very important but I'm not going to keep all the events hidden from you anymore because I think you need to know them all if I am going to keep alluding to them.**

**So it will still be written as a story but I am taking Survivr18's suggestion and using flashbacks along with it to tell the story so you won't all be in the dark anymore.**

**_Previously: Meiko and Uzumi recently discovered that they both have a similarity of sorts. Yaro and Meiko have grown closer through the fact that they are drawn to each other and Meiko assumes it is because they are opposites. Leyas has recently written as song about the events of the war, much like her mother before her except she had the help of her little sister Kayla. Shinn and the Minerva have been fighting as an intervention team in Africa trying to slow ROW's advances and they recently came across an abandoned redemption base. Athrun and Cagalli are fighting ROW on a political front even though it is not safe because there was an assassination attempt on Cagalli's life. Lacus Clyne is hiding with the Clyne faction and Kira Yamato has just been rescued by Redemption and hospitalized for intense injury. With the Yamato family hiding in ORB and Meiko searching for answers it's only a matter of time before they are discovered by ROW. Things are moving now as Liene has started another sage of his plan and Milady Redemption has decided to prepare for the launch of the Resurrection. _  
**

Phase 13 - Past, Present and Future

* * *

_"They won't want me anymore," she cried._

_"I'm nothing without Kira," her face flushed from tears, "I can't do this alone anymore."_

It had been a dark time for her back in Gibralter bearing the burdens of duty and desire all alone; trying to understand her purpose in life and trying to get Kira to return to her. She fought herself now, knowing that she could not afford to feel that emptiness.

Gibraltar. It had all started with terrorists attacks near the area and at the time Lacus Clyne was training to be a the Chairwoman of the plants. Her and Kira's relationship was a complete secret to the world while her and Chairman Armarfi worked together to hide Kira's past so that they could announce their relationship. In the meantime Kira was beginning to sense that Lacus's career was more important than the feelings he had for her. They began to drift apart as she got caught up in politics and he got caught up in monitoring Gibraltar. It was very hard for her, more so that he realized. He was her heart and he was being slowly torn from her in that time and there was nothing she could do about it. Then it happened.

_"What are we Lacus?" he asked her with sadness and anger written across his face. She looked at him with complete confusion; what was he talking about, "I can't just ignore the facts anymore." He grabbed her hands._

_"What are you saying?" she asked, "we're together! We're everything! You're everything! I love you!"_

_"But that's not it anymore," he looked down frustrated, "you are more important than I ever could be and I am taking you down with me. They are targeting me Lacus! Ever step of the way I know that the terrorists are targeting me, not you, me and the more I am with you the more I place you in danger. Besides all that I hardly ever see you outside of political gatherings anymore. It's as if we're done and we don't even know how to say it." The words tore her heart in two for she knew what was coming next._

_"No! You love me, I know you do," she put her arms around him, "I know you love me because I love you. And together we can get through this time, we can get through anything!" _

_"No Lacus," he grabbed both her arms and moved them away from him, "I am transferring to Gibraltar; they need help down there."_

_"So well just be apart for now you're coming back?" Lacus asked._

_"No Lacus," he replied breathing out hard, "we're done."_

_"No," she responded._

_"You deserve better," he looked down, "much better than me."_

He had left her that day, in sorrow and pain he was gone and it had torn her apart. It wasn't his fault that he felt that way about things. He had been the target of a lot of messages from the terrorists claiming that they would target Lacus if he didn't leave her and loving her like he did he would rather die than see her get hurt by someone. Little did he realize how deep her love for him went and that he was the one who could hurt her the most. Shortly after that things got more complicated as she began to suspect that something had happened while her and Kira were together.

_"Are you sure she's alright? She looked terrible at the summit yesterday," Shinn told Meyrin who was talking to him on the phone._

_"No Shinn," Meyrin replied, "I am not sure she's alright, in fact I know she is not. She's sleeping right now and I've been trying to calm her but she keeps going into hysterics."_

_"Kira!" Shinn said angrily, "he shouldn't have just left her like that."_

_"And he didn't just leave," Meyrin said, "he told her that it was better if they weren't together. He broke her heart when he left and he told her he has no intention of returning to her again."_

_"I am sure I'll see him sometime within the next week," Shinn replied, "and when I do he's getting a piece of my mind." Meyrin's train of thought was interrupted when she heard a scream echo through the house coming from Lacus's room, "Meyrin are you there?" She heard Shinn's voice say._

_"I got to go!" she quickly said hanging the phone up on Shinn. She rushed up the stairs as she heard a few crashes of things; she shouldn't have left Lacus alone for so long. In the state she was in she was the biggest danger to herself now. Kira should never have left her, Meyrin wished she could go to earth and give him a piece of her mind just like Shinn was going to do, but Lacus needed her now. She opened the door of Lacus's room quickly and saw the girl crumbled on her knees sitting in front of a broken mirror. The room was a mess, and things had been thrown about. Meyrin quickly rushed to Lacus._

_"Are you alright!" she asked frantically, "what happened?" Lacus looked up at her, Meyrin had never seen that look in her eyes; the Lacus they all knew was no longer there she was empty and scared._

_"I can't do this anymore," Lacus replied, "I can't pretend I don't feel because I do. I can't bear this pain anymore, please Meyrin take me to earth, I have to see him."_

_"You're bring irrational Lacus," Meyrin responded trying to keep calm, "you are so close to finishing your training! You've worked so hard to keep up this legacy of peace for the sake of our world."_

_"They won't want me anymore," Lacus looked down with more tears in her eyes. _

_"What are you talking about the people love you?" Lacus looked at her again and grabbed her hand. Slowly Lacus brought Meyrin's hand to rest upon her stomach and the younger girl who had just looked behind Lacus immediately understood. There by the wall lay the broken pieces of a pregnancy test and the baby was no doubt Kira's. Lacus's perfect image and perfect life would immediately break down in the public's eyes once this got out._

_"O Lacus," Meyrin hugged the older girl. She knew that Lacus needed all the support she could get now more than ever, "we have to call Cagalli and Athrun, they can help you."_

_"No Meyrin!" Lacus protested, "you must tell no one! Promise me please!" Meyrin saw the look in Lacus's eyes and knew that Lacus would tell Cagalli when she was ready. _

_"Alright," Meyrin replied, "you'll tell her when your ready though right?"_

_"Yes," Lacus responded nodding, "though I don't know when that will be. I'm scarred Meyrin, I want Kira."_

_"I know Lacus," Meyrin sighed, "I know."_

Lacus Clyne, the princess of the Plants was pregnant and Kira, the father of her child was gone. She was completely alone with this. Unsure of herself she hid her pregnancy from the world and even from those closest to her. For a time Meyrin was the only one who knew. Angry at everyone Lacus began to act out and she secured herself a place on one of the diplomatic missions to Gibraltar. She knew she had to see Kira again but as soon as he saw her there be became angry. After that a battle broke out in Gibraltar and Kira sent Lacus away with Shinn and Athrun to safety while he was captured there by the terrorists.

Athrun, Cagalli and everyone else soon figured out what was going on with her and confronted her about it. Chairman Amarfi told her that the terrorists were threatening her so she stayed with Reverend Malchio in ORB and there she met two year old Yaro, and he comforted her though he had nothing. He touched her heart in such a way that she remembered it.

Things got worse before they got better and ORB worked with the PLANTs to stop the terrorists and retake Gibraltar and rescue Kira. In the end everything seemed to work out. Lacus gave birth to twins, Kira recovered from his wounds, Kira and Lacus finally revealed their relationship to the world and then a year later Lacus was elected. Though she was a young mother the people of the PLANTs saw her as capable as she had worked with a few writers to draw up the treaty of Gibraltar, in which a large group of nations allied to stop the spread of nuclear warfare and to promote the ideas of peace, and she worked on it while she had two twins to take care of. After the treaty was signed she met a redheaded woman who wore a strange white mask. The woman had asked her to take in Yaro, and since Lacus really cared for the child it was easy for her.

So much happened at that time but she had made it through just like she could make it through everything that was happening now. She knew though the dark was around her now the light would come soon and she waited patiently for that light.

* * *

"I lost everything I was," Milady Redemption said turning to Yzak as he entered to find her with tears in her eyes, "everything that kept me alive. Everything that I had left in life. It was all taken from me and for sixteen years I have tried so hard to build up my strength in hopes of getting it all back. I can not fail."

"Milady?" Yzak said in confusion upon entering and seeing tears in his leaders eyes and listening to her break. She was very strong around everyone, it was only him who ever saw her break and even then these times were very rare. He did not blame her; not very many young girls would have made it out of her situation. She quickly wiped her eyes and turned to him with a stern look wishing to break off the chains of the past once again..

"What is it Yzak?" she asked, "you came to tell me something?"

"It seems we have received a transmission," Yzak responded, "John Liene wishes to speak to you."

* * *

Milady's eyes were filled with anger as she sat down in the captains chair on the bridge and turned to face the screen in front of her. She quickly waved her hand for the commuications tech to open a line with the ROW transmission. How he had been able to broadcast to her was no mystery. The Mars base must have taken some readings from her ship in order to be able to communicate with it. She was certain that this was perfectly safe as her techntions would keep them from being able to trace any transmission to their location.

"It's been a long time Red," he smiled wryly as he appeared, "to long and I hear you have changed your name once again. Is it Milady Redemption now?"

"I learned from the best," Milady said alluding to the many times he changed his own name, "And I was very surprised to find that you still go by John Liene, I guess you ran out of names." He frowned at her mocking him remembering times when she used to hang on to his every word.

"You mock now but I have not called to hear it. I call to offer you a deal," his words caused her to cock her head in confusion. What game was he playing now? She knew that there was no person in the world he hated more than her because she stole one of his precious projects; a child that he had planned to raise as a solider. She only regretted that she was unable to save the other one. It was impossible that he was really offering her any sort of deal that she could take and she would settle for no less than her existence in return.

"I'm listening," Milady said signaling for her technicians to record the message and trace it back to its source.

"So once again you interffered with my affairs," he said referring to her rescue of Kira to which she smiled, "and I am growing tired of our little skirmishes. You only show up when I am content that you are gone. I can't understand what it is you are trying to do..."

"Do you have a point to all this because if not I can go back to plotting against you," she interrupted him sarcastically.

"Dear little Red," he looked down sighing, "Don't you realize that all your plotting against me is working against the world? I am fighting to save it and you are getting in my way! Think Red, I have only ever wanted to help you which is why I took you in all those years ago. I am trying to save the world, that is what I raised Meiko up for as well." Milady stiffened at the mention of the other child, the one she had been forced to leave behind, "I am now offering you another chance to come back. Join with me for the sake of this world and we can recreate in into the image of peace and prosperity that we all desire." Yzak looked toward Milady's face and knew instantly she would not listen to a word Liene said.

"What is in it for me?" Milady stood up angrily, she had heard all this before, "you assume that I have the same goals you have."

"I know what it is you want and you won't get it any other way," Liene said almost loosing his cool, "I am offering you your life back! Don't you see that together this would go much faster. Together we can save this world and you can return to your family here in ROW. If you join us ROW and Redemption could fight for a peace that will last for all of forever. We could unite the world and the will of man."

"You only desire this for your own selfish reasons," Milady angrily responded, "you have no regard for the lives of others and you were even willing to sacrifice the life of your own son for your twisted belief that more fighting is the way to peace! Your plans have brought nothing but pain into the world and you expect me to run back to you the moment you start speaking pretty words! I am not Red anymore, I am no longer a stupid little girl. I am plotting your downfall Liene and you will be begging me to spare your life when I am through!" Liene was angered by her words, everyone on the bridge saw it on his face and they all silently applauded their lady for her resolve.

"You have chosen death then," he frowned and yelled, "I will not fail it is you who will die! You and all your pathetic lot!" The transmission then was cut leaving everyone stunned. It was as Milady had predicted, he was angry with her beyond belief. He sought to lure her into a trap now and she knew that this put a block in front of their plans.

"Get us back to base Yzak," she said with a downcast expression, "we have to regroup. If things are the way I think they are Liene has completed the STING." Yzak looked at her in shock, for if that was the truth then they all had reason to fear.

* * *

Meiko stepped out of the large car that Uzumi had sent for her and gasped at the sight of the house she was now standing in front of. The Attha mansion was an incredible sight, one she was sure she would remember for years afterward. She had finally secured an invite to their home but it had come from Uzumi not Yaro. Meiko did not understand why he had invited her but after their evening in the park Uzumi had realized that Meiko did not have very many friends and that as they both shared the darkness it would be better if neither of them were left alone for to long. Uzumi was also sure that Yaro would agree with him and enjoy her company in their home.

She walked up the large steps and one of the guards opened the door for her and revealed more things for her to gape at. The hall was very large and well decorated with paintings and furnishings that she was sure were from the history of ORB. There were several corridors leading out of the hall to more and more majestic rooms and at the end of the hall there was a large staircase. Suddenly a familiar feeling entered her mind, but this time was not like the others for it was not as strong and then down the stairs she appeared.

Leyas was shocked to see the girl that she had met weeks before standing there near the doorway, she had not expected to meet her again as her leaving made it quite evident that she was not accustomed to having friends.

"I know you, Meiko was it," Leyas said walking slowly toward the girl with a friendly smile. Meiko was shocked, what was this girl doing here? Leyas Yamato was Lacus Clyne's pop star daughter and it was a shock to Meiko that she was in ORB and now here she was in the Attha mansion. Meiko's mind immediately began to search for some explanation that did not end with Cagalli Yula Atta working with Lacus Clyne but why else would Leyas be here?

"Do you live here?" Meiko asked trying to clear her thoughts up.

"Yes as part of a foreign exchange program," Leyas responded with a smile, "Lady Cagalli was kind enough to let me stay here while studying in an ORB school." Leyas was better versed in the official story than her brothers and could speak it convincingly in her sleep. Meiko was almost convinced but something about her eyes seemed to contradict it.

"Meiko!" she heard Uzumi's voice from down one of the halls and turned to see him coming toward the two girls, "welcome! I see you've met Leyas." Leyas nodded politely.

"Yes we met before at school," Meiko said filling Uzumi in. Leyas then heard a noise coming from the stairs and turned to see a little pink haired girl sliding down the banisters toward them. The little girl looked shockingly like Lacus Clyne except for her lime green eyes.

"I haven't met you!" she almost yelled when she suddenly fell from the banisters and hit the floor then stood up quickly, "I'm okay, no one panic!"

"You know you're not supposed to do that!" Leyas sighed as if annoyed with the younger girl.

"I don't care," Kayla then bounced up to Meiko holding out a hand, "I am Kayla!" As Meiko took the younger girls hands she was surprised to see there was wisdom in the young girls eyes; a deepness that Meiko was confused by. "Meiko. You don't have to be sad while you are here, I'm sure that nothing bad is going to happen." Meiko was shocked by how the young girl had seen through her and not only that there was a familiar feeling in her mind at the approach of the young girl, just like with Leyas.

"What's all the noise," she knew the voice before she turned to see Yaro standing there completely shocked at seeing Meiko here. Yaro then glanced at Uzumi and it was as if suddenly there was tension in the room that all of them could feel. Kayla bowed out of the room and Leyas followed her.

"Hey Yaro," Uzumi said breaking the silence, "I invited Meiko over today for some board games, you're welcome to join us." Meiko had almost laughed when he had sent her the invite, she had never played board games and wasn't quite sure what they were. Meiko could sense that Yaro was not calm in this situation and she began to think that he was hiding something, something that she was not supposed to know.

"Sure I'll join you," Yaro said putting on a smile but the truth was that he was unnerved by Meiko being there. They were hiding a secret that no one could know, they were Lacus Clynes children and though he trusted Meiko he was not willing to take any chances.

"Great! I set some up this way," Meiko and Yaro the followed Uzumi into another large room with a very large window that overlooked a large garden that was in their back yard. Meiko had never seen a home like this in her life as she had spent all her time in bases. She wondered what it was like living in a place like this day to day. It was just to beautiful for words. The room that Uzumi had led her into was also very comfortable looking. There were two large couches, a small table with a few chairs and on one side of the room there was a large TV.

"Here is the game," Uzumi motioned to the table on which sad some funny look objects. As Uzumi began to explain the rules she heard noise coming toward the room and saw the two girls entering with Kiran trailing behind them. They were all arguing about something.

"I want to watch an action Sis," Kiran said trying to sway Leyas from putting in a girls movie.

"Well I want this movie," she said, "so you can take your movie elsewhere or you can sit here with us. Meiko zoned out of the conversation thinking about what Kiran had just said. He had called Leyas sis and he was Yaros brother. That meant that Yaro was Leyas's sister and Lacus Clyne's son. The realization made no sense to her, this just couldn't be happening. She began breathing hard and Uzumi realized that something was bothering her as did Yaro.

"What wrong," Yaro put a hand on her arm.

"I'm fine," Meiko said grabbing the table, "I am just fine."

"You don't look fine," Uzumi said standing up and putting a hand on her forehead. She was pale and her features suddenly looked very frail. Something was wrong they both knew it yet Meiko would not budge.

"I am fine," she insisted, "just keep explaining the rules." She would clear this all up later.

* * *

Yaro and Uzumi cleaned up the board game together, Meiko had left a few minutes ago and Uzumi could tell Yaro was bothered about something. The older boy had not spoken since she left, though he was friendly when she was here. Uzumi wondered what could be bothering him.

"You know how dangerous it is to just invite people over?" Yaro asked nearly dropping the board game pieces he was holding. He was angry with Uzumi for inviting Meiko over because it was to dangerous for anyone to meet all of his family. Sure Meiko was no threat but this could open the door to more people coming in and the news spreading like wildfire around the school. There was something else bothering him as well but it wasn't an emotion he recognized, could it be that he was jealous that Uzumi had been the one to invite Meiko over? Yaro always told himself that him and Uzumi were both just Meiko's friends but was there more to it? Did Yaro want to be more than Meiko's friend?

"Meiko is not dangerous," Uzumi said calmly not wanting to fight his cousin, "she is sacred Yaro and she needs friends who she knows won't just abandon her." Yaro frowned.

"We can't have anyone knowing who I am or who my siblings are!" Yaro protested, "not even Meiko."

"As if she could figure it out," Uzumi responded, "she's not from the PLANTs, she is from earth somewhere and from what I know she lost everything. She has no one Yaro, no family, no friends and no future which is why I thought it would be nice to show her that we are her friends." Uzumi frowned, Yaro was acting irrationally and it made no sense.

"Well it's to late now," Yaro responded, "just don't bring anyone else over here." Uzumi nodded but he began to understand exactly what was going on in Yaro's head. Yaro Yamato was jealous and Uzumi knew it would be better just to ignore that fact.

* * *

Meiko sat on her computer searching every database she had on Leyas Yamato. She had seen a few of the girls concert videos but they did not offer the answers she needed. She was sure that she had heard Kiran call Leyas sis and she wanted to know why. She searched again for photos of Leyas's family and she finally came across what she was looking for, a Yamato family photo. Her heart began to pound as she realize what was in front of her, everything Liene wanted. This information was sure to make the PLANTs angry, the Yamato children were staying in the home of Cagalli Yula Attha. Everything pointed to Cagalli helping Lacus and possibly being involved in the launch of the Minerva.

This was the reason why Meiko had come here, because she had to get close to Uzumi, because she had to find out if Cagalli had helped Lacus. She breathed hard and she felt dizzy at the thought, she cared about Yaro and Uzumi now they were her friends but they did not know who she was. Would they still care for her if they knew the truth? She looked down at her calloused hands again and saw that her life here was such a lie.

Her heart and mind warred again. She wanted some peace, she wanted happiness. She wanted Yaro and Uzumi, they were the best people she had ever met but she knew that if she kept on that she would hurt them. She did not want to hurt them. How did she escape this. Tears began to flow from her eyes now. She knew Liene's arrival was long due and that he would come to ORB. He would come to ORB and he would make Meiko tell him everything she had learned. What was she to do? She did not want to give up the peace she had found here. She did not want to loose her friends.

She had to do something about this. She had to protect them. She had to lie.

* * *

Cagalli paced in front of the council. She had spend a lot of time working on this plan and now she was presenting it. She knew she would be met with opposition but she knew that the action of her nation would provoke others to follow her lead in the promotion of peace. She also knew that something big was about to happen, she felt it yet she could not place it. She only hoped she could prevent more death in her actions.

"I propose that we stop sitting around and waiting for ROW to reveal their motives," Cagalli spoke with strong authority, "and though it has been our way to ignore conflict and to focus on our own affairs I fear that we will be dragged into this war somehow. I am now speaking out of a love for my country and out of a will to protect it from battles and conflict." She breathed in and looked at Athrun for strength, "I propose that we urge ROW's leaders to have a diplomatic meeting with all the countries in the world."

"That is impossible," a council member spoke up, "the people would never approve."

"I am not proposing we join the fighting or break from our ideals," Cagalli said, "I am only proposing that we ask ROW why it is that they are so blatantly fighting to destroy the peace that we have all worked so hard to build."

"ROW is not our concern," Gratsler spoke up, why was he always her greatest opposition, "our concern is our borders and how they are being effected by the sudden upheaval in countries around us. ROW has posed no threat to us, only to countries who have allowed conflict within their borders and we should not follow in their ways."

"That is the sort of thinking that will drag us into war," Cagalli said slamming her hand down in the desk, "complacently sitting by and doing nothing while ROW plots against us! Do you think they are just going to invade other nations but pass us by because we are doing nothing? No they are going to gather their strength and focus in on us laughing because we are doing nothing!"

"But is a diplomatic meeting with ROW really going to change things," everyone was silent as Berren Duabi stood up, he was Cagalli's greatest support in the past and here he had something to say against her plan, "they don't seem like the type to agree to diplomatic meetings or friendship with people they want to destroy. I am not sure that they will agree to anything we have to say no matter we do to try and get them to listen. I propose that we increase our military strength, send messages to ROW warning them that we are armed and ready. Then I propose we wait."

"Just wait?" Cagalli asked, "for them to attack us and destroy us? They are stronger than us!"

"And how do you know that?" Gratsler asked, "you haven't seen their strength firsthand, you don't know what they are capable of. Who knows they might be spent now after dealing with so many nations."

"The fact Gratsler is they have so many nations under their control now," Athrun said looking at the senator with anger, "and with the military help from other nations they can conqure us without even hurting themselves. You assume that nothing bad is going to happen here because nothing has in sixteen years but remember that ROW was so reckless to attack the PLANTs almost a year ago now and that they have learned from that battle. Who knows what they are planning."

"No one knows Athrun," Duabi responded, "and if we make ourselves stronger we can fight them off." Cagalli realized she was getting nowhere with her proposal, a meeting with ROW was not a good idea in the mind of anyone here but her. Athrun had even resisted her idea earlier. If she couldn't speak with ROW and she couldn't fight them what was she to do? How would her nation face the fast approaching storm?

* * *

Athrun sat with Uzumi on the porch outside of the house watching the sun fade over the misty hills on one side of ORB. This country was truely beautiful and Athrun knew that him and Cagalli had done well in raising their boys here. Now he looked toward his son and saw that there was something troubling the boy. He had noticed it for awhile but he had thought it unwise to press him for answers. Athrun knew Uzumi well enough to know that he would come to him with whatever it was when he was ready.

"Have you ever felt the darkness father," Uzumi suddenly asked a question catching Athrun off guard. Darkness, something that Athrun had not heard about in a long time. It had consumed him eighteen years before after he had found out that he would be forced to possibly kill his best friend. Did it plague his son now and if so why?

"A long time ago Uzumi," Athrun sighed, "but I escaped it."

"How?" Uzumi asked. Athrun looked into his sons eyes and saw that there was fear there, something that Uzumi had never had. Uzumi was always the strongest one of his two sons, never scared of anything. What was it that could frighten him?

"I don't know how," Athrun replied looking down, "it all built up then suddenly it was gone. Kira used to say that the darkness usually meant that a life was on the line. A lot of people died back when I felt it, a lot of good people." Uzumi's fear then escalated.

"I feel it now father," he said looking down, "it's been growing in my mind ever since I left the battlefield and I'm not the only one who feels it."

"Yaro?" Athrun asked fearing that both boys could be effected by the same thing as him and Kira had been in the past.

"No," Uzumi shook his head, "a girl I met named Meiko." Athrun looked at his son questioningly. Who was this Meiko and why was it that Athrun felt as though he had heard the name before? "I don't know why it is but I am scared of something. There is something coming for me and I don't know what it is." He looked at Athrun with tears in his eyes, "I try to see it but it's all black. I don't know why but I'm frightened." Athrun felt fear escalating in the boys voice and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't let it consume you," Uzumi looked toward his fathers sureness, "don't let it take you! You're stronger than it Uzumi, I know because I almost lost to it as well. You can't let this control you, you have to fight it!" Uzumi heard the worry in his fathers voice and the commanding strength that it held.

"But how?" Uzumi asked, "it's taken hold of me."

"Turn toward the light," Athrun replied, "run toward the light and hold on to everything you hold dear!" Uzumi then hugged his father, he so desperately wanted that strength back.

"I'll try father," he said, "I'll try."

* * *

Kira believed that he was being held captive now and he did not understand why. He had been hospitalized after arriving aboard this strange ship and still had not been permitted to leave. The door to the room was always locked and he wondered why. This organization was strange, so far he had only met a few of them and if seemed like they wanted to keep him from wandering around the ship. He was fed up with all this, he had thought they had come to free him not to keep him captives themselves. They had told him they would take him to see his family but it had been a month since then and every time he asked about it they said it was not safe. He was not going to take it anymore. The doctor walked in with a trey of food and Kira stood up.

"I demand to speak to the leader of this organization," Kira said angrily. The doctor expected something like this to happen soon but he knew that Milady had given him express orders to keep Kira hospitalized.

"Milady has left the ship," the doctor replied, "and she has urgent things she must attend to. I regret to say that you can not speak with her at this time."

"Then let me speak to someone else," Kira replied, he was not going to let up, "there has to be someone else in this ship who has authority to help me. I am tired of sitting around! I do not need any more care, I am fully recovered!" The doctor sighed knowing there was little he could tell Kira but there was one thing he could do for him.

* * *

Yzak sat down at the desk waiting patiently for Gren to bring Kira to him. He was directly disobeying Milady in this but he knew with time she woud understand that he did the right thing. Kira was in the dark about everything and Yzak knew it was time to shed some light on recent events. His little talk with Kira might not completely calm him but Yzak was sure it would keep Kira from questioning redemption anymore. He heard a knock at his door.

"Come in," he said and Gren walked in with Kira trailing behind him. The moment Kira stepped in shock spread over his face; Yzak had disappeared years before and had last been seen in the Gibraltar incident and now here he was. Had he been in Redemption all along?

_Yzak stood there before Kira and Lacus and it was apparent to them that the last shot fired came from his gun. He smiled at their shocked faces; Shinn was the first one to speak up._

_"You're supposed to be dead!" The story going around was that Yzak had been killed._

_"I am not that easy to kill," Yzak responded._

_"But where have you been all this time," Lacus asked holding the wounded Kira tightly._

_"There is a hint of unrest in this world that I could not ignore," Yzak said putting away his gun, "and as long as that unrest exists I will fight alongside a peace keeping force that exists to save people like you from plots like this one." _

Kira now understood Yzak must have been speaking about Redemption when he said that. He had saved their lives in the final battle of Gibraltar and the lives of Kiran and Leyas who were both still unborn. They were forever grateful to him but a few minutes after that moment he had disappeared again and they had not heard from him since. Some of the members of the Clyne faction sought to investigate where he was but they never came across any traces of where he had disappeared to.

Yzak had been approached by Milady Redemption a year before the Gibraltar incident. Her family was gone and she was left with their large fortune, utterly alone. She told him that the world was in danger and that she sought to build up a military force with the sole purpose of protecting the world and stopping a man named John Liene whom she claimed plotted against the peace. Though everything did not seem to add up Yzak trusted her and worked with her on the military. When she traced John Liene to Gibraltar and figured out that he was after Lacus's two unborn coordinator children she had sent him to intervene. She had stopped Liene in all ways she could and in doing so she had protected Kira and Lacus's family for the past 14 years. They did not know the half of what the organization had done for the world nor would they ever find out.

"I know it is a shock for you to see me here now," Yzak said motioning for Kira to take a seat and for Gren to leave, "truthfully Milady asked me not to reveal myself to you but I suspect a lack of answers is driving you crazy right now." Kira did have a lot of questions but he was not sure Yzak would be able to answer them all.

"Why did you save my life for starters?" Kira asked, "and how did you know where I was?"

"It might help to tell you a little about this organization before as that may clear up a lot," Kira nodded to this statement so Yzak continued, "Redemption was founded about sixteen years ago right after the Destiny incident. Milady came to me for help and together we built this organization in order to fight ROW, which was still in it's infacy at the time. The truth is Milady escaped from the clutches of John Liene so she had an idea of what was coming."

"So she was his prisoner?" Kira asked.

"No," Yzak responded a little bit unsure of whether or not to tell him the truth about it all, but Kira deserved to know, "she was Liene's right hand. Her name was Rayla 'Red' Frost while in ROW and Liene deceived her about everything. Once she learned the truth about how Liene's goals would destroy the world we know and tear down everything that was good and right she swore to stop ROW. In leaving ROW she lost everything and all she was left with was her family's wealth. We've been diverting ROW's plans for a long time. I was in Gibralar because she predicted that Liene was there. We stopped an assassination attempt on Lacus twelve years ago before it was able to take place. We rescued Leyas and Kiran one day when Liene tried to have them kidnapped on their way home from school. We've kept him away from your family, from Cagalli's family and from many other political families over the past fourteen years."

"Then you picked up information on my capture and rescued me because I am part of a political family?" Kira asked.

"Not exactly," Yzak responded, "see you Kira are different. Every member of Redemption knows of the hope you inspire and of the things you stand for. You are the Ultimate Coordinator and you don't fully understand what that means." Kira was a bit unnerved by this, how did Yzak know all that? That information was erased from all records by Chairman Amarfi right after the Gibraltar incident.

"Milady found Ulren Hibiki's lab," Yzak said sensing Kira's unrest, "or rather Liene found it because Liene worked with him and Liene knew everything about you Kira. You were not just created as a scientific breakthrough but the real reason you were born is so that there could be someone in the world to inspire hope to people. Someone who could survive through almost anything. Someone who was strong enough to carry the truth." Yzak could have said something else but he kept it to himself that Kira was strong enough to carry the super seed. Yzak believed it was a theory but Milady believed it was true. There was another level of seed energy that only a few had. This energy was predicted to be enough to allow the human minds to touch. It was still all only prediction but Ulren Hibiki had been onto something when he placed it inside of Kira's DNA.

"I'm not sure i understand it all," Kira replied. Speaking on the ultimate coordinator subject was still a little touchy for him and he did not want to keep pressing for answers in that area.

"You don't have to yet," Yzak replied, "but someday you will."

"What about my family?" Kira asked moving to his real concern, "where are they now?"

"Your wife is now safe in the Clyne Faction base on the dark side of the moon," Yzak replied, "and your children are in ORB under the protection of your siser and your best friend." Kira was a bit shocked by this but he knew Lacus well enough that she would want to send her kids as far away from the fighting as she could.

"When will I get to see them?" Kira asked.

"Not for some time," Yzak replied, though he regretted having to put Kira off again, "we have reason to believe that Liene has laid a trap for us and so we have chosen to back out for now."

"Back out of what?" Kira stood up, "my family are out there and I can do nothing for them if Liene decides to attack them."

"He doesn't know where they are!" Yzak nearly yelled, "and it would be impossible to get you past ROW if what Milady predicts is going to happen happens. I am sorry I can't tell you more but it is impritive that you trust us." Kira calmed down taking a deep breath and remembering the dream he had in the ORB prison that one of his children was already overtaken by the darkness. It was hard for him to just wait when one of his children was in danger.

"I hope I have cleared some things up for you," Yzak said as the door open and Gren came in letting him know that his time was up, "time for you to go now."

"Thank you," Kira said as he walked out with Gren. Yzak then turned to his wall and slammed his fist on it. He regretted not being able to help Kira more and the truth was Yzak knew Kira's kids would not remain safe for long. He feared that Milady overlooked a small detail in claiming that they were safe; the Pain was on the Prejudice and yet it did not launch. Liene's warrior known as Meiko Virea was missing.

"You did not need to do that," he heard the door open and heard Milady's voice behind him. She missed nothing that happened within her own ship and that was part of the reason why she was such a good captain.

"He did not understand Milady," he breathed in, "he was beginning to fear the worst."

"Then perhaps we should send him to ORB," Milady replied.

"It's as you said earlier," he looked down, "it's too dangerous."

* * *

Athrun absorbed everything Shinn was telling him about the abandoned outpost that he had found. It seemed to Athrun as though there was something out there that he had completely overlooked. Redemption, he had heard of it once before and not from any political networks. He had heard it breathed in fear by the ROW agent he had caught the day of the attempted assaination on his wife.

"Redemption," Athrun said, "and are you sure that everything was erased?"

"Everything Athrun, It was as if they knew we were coming," he replied not fully understanding what he had seen, "The only thing left was a folder with a few photos and none of them seemed to give a clue as to what this organization is up to."

"I think that they are on our side," Athrun replied thinking about the idea of another organization on their side. Who were these people? Were their intentions good?

"How do you know?" Shinn asked. He was inclined to think that they should name these people enemies until they discovered their true intentions. Unexpected friends were better than unexpected enemies.

"I don't really know," Athrun responded, "I just know that saying Redemption strikes fear into the heart of ROW agents. You should try it sometime and let me know what you come up with." Shinn wondered at this. Was there a possibility that there was a miracle waiting out there for all of them. A miracle led by an embelum of a Rose.

* * *

Meiko stood patiently as Yaro climbed up the tree. They had gotten lost in one of the forests outside of the ORB capital and had realized that they were going in circles. Now Yaro had decided that the best way to know which direction to go in was to climb a tall tree and look for the city. Meiko on the other hand was not so conviced; she knew how the lay of the land worked and was pretty sure that she could retrace their steps with no problem. The only thing she was concerned about was the amount of questions it would bring up if she suddenly revealed that she was an expert in tracking and tracing through the land. She was already confusing to Yaro with her perfection in a mobile suit. No need to let him know that she could do more than one thing very well. So she had let him climb the tree but things had been going slower than she thought.

"Are you up their yet," Meiko asked, "because it might be easier just to try and retrace our steps."

"I'm almost to the top," he yelled down. She frowned and sat down by the base of the tree and began to think over the past few days. She, Yaro and Uzumi had hung out around school but she sensed Yaro was always tense. When she was alone with just Yaro he was relaxed. There was no evidence of him and Uzumi having a fight so she did not know what was happening.

Both the boys were comforting to her and for the first time in a long time she felt like she had some real friends. When she was with them she ignored her past trying to take in every peaceful and good feeling that she could knowing that this would not last forever. She had made up her mind that Liene did not need to know anything about the Clyne children being in ORB, they were just children after all and their being there did not mean that Lacus Clyne was there. She was a bit nervous about the thought of lying to Liene but she did not see any other way out of it.

She would be leaving to space soon and then she would remember these moments as happy amidst all the sadness that she would face. She could not hold on to these moments if she cause the death of the two boys she had grown to respect and care about. It was a complicated situation but she thought it was worth a try.

"I think I should have picked a different tree," Yaro said suddenly dropping down beside her causing her to jump, "this one is not nearly as high as it should be." She smiled at this, and he noticed. It was the first time he had ever really seen her smile. She stood up and walked toward a tree near the one he had just come out of.

"Maybe you're just not light enough to get to the top branches," she said hoisting herself into the tree and climbing up it at an impressive speed. Yaro watched in amazement as she disappeared from sight.

"How did you?" he stopped himself, "why didn't you climb the tree in the first place?"

"Because you seemed so determined to do it," she yelled down, "and I did not want to deprive you of something you wanted to do." She had reached the top and she did see the city from there. She smiled to herself and quickly climbed down.

"So?" he asked as she landed next to him.

"It's this way," she said walking in the direction that she had predicted it would be in all along.

"That was fast," he pointed out.

"I know," she responded. They then walked on together continuing the conversation they had started earlier before they got lost.

* * *

**Wow these chapters are getting long! There weren't as many reviews as I hoped last chapter but props to all those who did review because it was those few reviews that I got that encouraged me to get this done as quick as possible!**

**I think I have hit the point in the story that I have been anxiously waiting for because everything is finally coming into place for the first half of the first story. There are some big events in store and I can't wait.**

**I ask again: Has anyone seen the concept art? If so what did you think? If not read my authors note from before the last chapter.**

**I want to know what you think about how I drew the characters.  
**

**Please review**

**Reviews encourage me to write more faster.**

**Believe me I really enjoy reading your reviews they make me so happy!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**More to come!**

**Winterschill  
**


	15. Resistance and Failure

**I've been enjoying reading some of your predictions. Just remember things are not always as they seem.**

**Enjoy this next chapter.  
**

Phase 14 - Resistance and Failure

* * *

It was the next step in his fight to become stronger. He needed to face someone who he believed to be stronger than himself. Uzumi and Yaro had been undergoing mobile suit training at the military academy but that was not enough for Uzumi. He had been battling anything he could trying to become better and stronger in an attempt to escape the darkness that now threatened his mind.

"Are you sure?" she asked looking at the two simulators before them.

"More than ever," he said as he prepared to board his side of the simulation. Meiko was a bit nervous at this but she had agreed because Uzumi said they both needed to conquer the darkness and that becoming stronger was one step to breaking free. She had no doubt that she would bury him in this battle but she was a little worried about what he might do if she won on a steep margin. He had been working very hard but she had trained every waking moment of her entire life for this; the feeling of the cockpit of a mobile suit was the most natural safest place for her and had been for a very long time.

"The simulators are ready Uzumi," the technician of the lab said. Uzumi looked at Meiko with a smile.

"Don't hold back," he said, "I want you to fight me with everything you've got." She nodded and boarded her simulator and he boarded his.

It was so real a mobile suit before her, a hostile enemy. She smiled as she charged first spinning around his suit with grace as a different side of her manifested; the side that ROW loved, the warrior. Uzumi countered whirling and following her moves knowing that he had to keep up or he would loose. Her mind was focused now as he pulled out the first weapon and fired on her. She quickly surveyed everything she had been given to work with and memorized every control in an instant. His moves were obvious to her and she was able to easily dodge his fire. She quickly whirled about and pulled out a gun firing at his weapon instead of at his mobile suit. He quickly moved back as the gun exploded and opened his arms revealing two cannons.

"Is that all you got?" He taunted unnerving her. Though she kept telling herself the battle was fake she found it hard to do little more than defend against him. He now fired at her trying to pin her down but she was somehow able to dodge his fire taking off out of his sight at an alarming speed. He was amazed she really was good, better than he had expected but her fighting style reminded him of something. Some enemy he had faced before. He concentrated on finding where she had gone when his mobile suit lunged forward after having been kicked by her and a shot hit the side of his mobile suit weakening his armor. He instantly felt anger rise up within him as he put his cannons away and pulled out a beam boomerang and launched it at her, then fired at her with everything he could causing her to focus on dodging. He watched as her suit was clipped by one of his shots then he quickly moved in with both beam sabers activated and caught her off guard but she knew he had picked the wrong weapon to challenge her with. She pulled out one of her beam sabers blocking his attcak. She then shoved him back then whirled out her other saber

She quickly followed after him flashing her beam sabers and quickly spinning his own attack back on him. One of his beam sabers flew out of his hand and exploded as he hung on the other trying to fight her off. Her mind was completely focused as she delivered a series of quick moves and he was barely able to keep up. She heard him cry out in desperation as he tried to fight her off but she soon had him pinned down and defenseless. She raised her beam saber for a final blow when memories began to hit her.

Life after life. Death after death. So many gone by her hand. So many killed. Guilty stains that followed her. Peace that she did not deserve.

Now she sat looking at the mobile suit before her and it was impossible for her to think of it as anything else but Uzumi. It was different now, she knew him, she cared about him. Simulation or not she could not kill him. Fear filled her mind as she cried out at the pain that now ripped through it. She was a monster and this battle was too close to real for her. She knew it would not be long and this battle could be real. She moved her mobile suit back and hit the self destruct ending the simulation.

She stepped out quickly and tried to leave the room but he caught up with her grabbing her arm.

"You stopped," he said looking at the fear in her eyes, "but you won. You could have ended it by killing me but you choose yourself. I told you not to hold back." Sadness filled her eyes as she looked at his kind face.

"It was too close to real," she said looking down, "to much for me to face." Tears began to fall down her face and he quickly pulled her into an embrace not knowing why it was that she cried, only knowing that he was there for her. She knew that they would probably be forced to fight each other for he was like Yaro, all goodness while she was all evil. She was ROW's warrior, and with her came pain.

"I'm sorry," Uzumi said.

"No," Meiko whispered, "I'm sorry."

* * *

"So Trey stood up to you?" Liene said. He sat next to Gilligan Manchester and Mike Shustre on a shuttle that was taking them to ORB. Liene had decided that it was time to see what information Meiko had gathered since she had been in ORB for over a month now. She was his best agent and had always completed her missions in perfect fashion but he was unsure that this time would be different. The last time he saw Meiko she had just been forced to kill a child, and for some reason it had broken her. It was as if instead of growing harder with every battle she was growing softer and it worried Liene. Sending her to befriend Uzumi Zala had been a dangerous move as the boy's kind nature and charisma were both legendary. Liene was also worried about the effect the Yamato children could have on her if she was in ORB. The oldest was a boy named Yaro who was near her age and Liene was worried about what might happen if those two met.

But he had decided that she was the best person to send. Now he was a bit unnerved by Trey Likra Day, Meiko's mobile suit partner, standing up to his superiors. The boy had an influence over Meiko though she tried to fight it. Meiko tried not to make friends and John Liene watched as she resisted the advances of anyone who tried to be kind to her but sometimes she slipped up. It was apparent to him that her and Trey worked together so well because they were friends and they always had each others backs on the battlefield.

"Yes," Gilligan said still angry about how Trey had acted, "I felt that contacting you was the best thing but I couldn't just let him wander free so I locked him up."

"You did well," Liene replied, "Meiko may take it hard but we need to show her the consequences of defecting."

"Do you really think that is necessary?" Mike spoke up, "she has been with us since she was a baby. If anyone is loyal I would think she is."

"You don't know that for certain," Liene replied, "I have seen even the loyalest shaken by doubt. Don't forget Rayla, she was my right hand and the day I lost her I knew that no one could be completely trusted, not even you." Both Gilligan and Mike knew this well, the day Liene had lost Milady Redemption was the day that his plan escalated and the day that he swore that Meiko would become the perfect solider but nothing more. And as such Meiko had never understood everything ROW was trying to do, she had been kept ignorant as any newcomer would be.

* * *

They needed answers so Athrun went to work. ROW was playing with them all, from the moment that Lacus was exiled from the PLANTs. Something was going on that Athrun was sure they were missing and he was going to find out what. Cagalli sat behind him watching him work intently and offering advice of what to do as he navigated the world on his computer and tried to understand what was going on. He was using every technique he knew to hack the networks of the world and he was covering his tracks as he did so.

"Are you sure you'll be able to find something this way?" Cagalli asked, "I mean this may be what ROW wants, for us to hack into the governments of the world so he can accuse us of sabotage or something." Athrun frowned at the thought but he knew how careful he was being. No one could catch him at the rate he was going.

"Trust me Cagalli," he said continuing his search. ROW had a strong presence in Africa as well as South America. It seemed they were on all other continents as well just not as strongly. He saw the devestation that the countries were suffering as he probed. He knew that all this was pointing to something huge and that it was coming soon. He sensed that ROW as playing them all like Gilbert Durandal had sixteen years before. It was as if ROW's plan had not moved for ten years because they were waiting for something and that recently the unrest had escalated like they were moving faster toward something that he did not understand. His fingers moved faster and faster across the keyboards as he searched and searched until finally he was back in ORB after having found nothing.

"It makes no sense," Athrun said angrily, "how can no one else know what is going on?" Cagalli slipped her arms around him.

"We will know soon enough," she sighed, "even now it is as if all the world is frozen waiting." Waiting for ROW to finally attack.

* * *

Meiko walked into her apartment building after a long day of classes. It was getting more and more annoying that she had to pretend that she did not understand everything the teachers were talking about. She walked to her door and took out her key when it opened revealing Mike, Gilligan and John Liene himself all standing in her living room. She had expected them to come for her soon but not this soon, she still had not figured out exactly how she was going to hide the information she had found about Yaro and Uzumi.

"Meiko!" John Liene stepped forward placing a hand on her shoulder as Gilligan went to close the door, "It's been awhile, I've missed having you in space but I trust your stay here has been beneficial?" Meiko at that moment knew everything depended on how she could play the situation. She had been letting her emotions show while in ORB but all that would have to end in this moment. She would have to be blank, expressionless in order to lie to him. She quickly put on her blank face though her heart was filled with fear at Liene's presence. She was unsure that she could handle this but she had to. She had to protect everything she had found.

"I am not sure that it has," she said dryly sitting down on the couch, trying to avoid his touch as she knew that her fear might cause her to start trembling, " have found nothing though I did everything I was asked."

"HOW!" Gilligan protested, "Cagalli had to have helped Lacus! How could you have found nothing?" Meiko knew it would be easier to fight Gilligan than to fight Liene so she rolled her eyes at him and frowned.

"Well maybe she hid it very well because I found nothing," Meiko flatly replied, "I did everything you told me to! I befriended Uzumi, and though it took awhile I got invited to his home. While there I saw nothing that reminded me of Lacus. No signs that she was hiding there and no signs that she was in any way associated with the Attha family anymore." Meiko began to think that she would get through this with no problem though a feeling in her mind told her to be wary.

"Anymore?" Liene asked, "why would you say anymore?" Liene knew Meiko was hiding something by the fact that the blank expression she put on her face was very forced. Something was going on with her that he did not like, it reminded him too much of the past.

"Because," Meiko hesitated looking toward Gilligan's angry expression to Mike's worried face, "I... um, I mean we all know that..." she fought to hide her emotions, "Lacus and Cagalli worked together sixteen years ago to fight the Destiny plan and they worked together in Gibraltar from what I hear."

Liene was able to mask his own anger at this moment, it had taken the girl too long to respond when in the past she always knew what she was saying. He was sure that she was hiding something and he aimed to find out what. He turned to Gilligan and the man went to the next room of the apartment while Liene himself sat down on the computer. Meiko tried to stand up but he motioned for her to sit down. She was confused by all this and she began to realize that Liene did not buy what she was saying. She turned to Mike hoping that he would back her up but he turned away hiding his own emotions. He knew Meiko well enough to know she was lying and he knew Liene well enough to know that he saw right through her. This plan had been risky, sending Meiko out on her own into the heart of ORB and now Mike was sure that she had really become Uzumi's friend. She had not faked friendship like she was told to, she had let her loneliness dictate her actions.

"So you found nothing?" Liene asked turning from Meiko's computer to her but she was resolved to keep her emotions hidden. He looked toward her face and saw nothing but the mask of a warrior.

"Nothing," Meiko responded letting a little anger come up. She was resolved to win this, to beat Liene at his own game for the sake of her friends.

"And you found nothing so you did a lot of research on Leyas Yamato of all people," Liene responded turning the screen toward her and on it she saw the Yamato family photo, "and Yaro Yamato." Liene smiled at how Meiko's mask just dropped at the sight of the photo. For a split second he saw fear in her eyes replaced by anger.

"I wanted to know who to look for," Meiko replied.

"You began to suspect that Lacus's children may be here, didn't you," he replied with a wry smile, he was sure he found everything. When she did not respond he continued, "so you looked them up a few days ago because you found nothing?"

"She probably found nothing Liene," Mike spoke up trying to defend Meiko, he knew she was upset about something, "she wouldn't lie to us."

"Stay out of this Shustre," he almost yelled at Mike who backed down. He then turned to Meiko, "why are you lying to me?"

"I am not," Meiko replied looking down.

"You are," Liene walked across the room and pulled her off the couch looking into her eyes with anger, "and you are going to tell me everything right now." She did not respond as her blank expression stayed on her face. Liene then threw her back to the couch, "if you won't respond I will make you." Meiko almost smiled at that, no amount of ROW torture could ever break her. She had felt everything they had at one time or another and she was sure Liene knew that. What card did he have up his sleeve now. He waved his hand toward the other room and out stepped Gilligan and a few guards with Trey held at gunpoint. She stood up at the sight of him.

"Trey!" she said turning to Liene, "you leave him out of this!"

"But he is s huge part of it isn't he?" Liene said taking a gun from one of the guards and pointing it at Trey, "you're only friend in ROW Meiko, would you really betray him to protect your new friends." Anger was now all over Meiko's features, Liene had her backed against a wall.

"You wouldn't dare," she spat, "he is one of your best pilots, you wouldn't dare kill him!" Liene then cocked the gun.

"Do you care to test me on that," she was trapped. Memories of Daniel, the only other friend she ever had began to flood her mind.

"Don't do it Meiko," Trey finally spoke up, "they are monsters, what ever they say doesn't matter." Gilligan then punched the boy's gut leaving him gasping for air. Mike watched as Meiko's angry expression left and one of defeat replaced it.

"Lacus Clyne's children are here," she whispered and Liene stepped forward.

"I'm sorry I can't here you, can you please speak up?" Liene asked mocking her.

"Lacus Clyne's children are here!" Meiko almost yelled now, "They are living with the Atthas!" At that moment tears welled up in her eyes as she realized what she had done. She had betrayed them and now she was sure she had lost them.

"Good," Liene said lowering his gun, "I knew you were still on our side Meiko." He put a hand on her face, "Dear little Meiko you will always be one of us." Mike knew that Liene had just broken Meiko with this and that the girl would never be the same. Liene had always taken everything from her but this time she had tried to defy him and failed. If she ever defied him again Mike was sure she would win and ROW would be shaken on that day.

As Liene and the others walked out the door with Trey leaving her alone she began to feel the darkness escalating in her mind. The feeling that connected her to Uzumi was growing and now she had to try and undo what she had done.

* * *

Lacus Clyne marched to the council room in the Clyne faction base knowing that now was the time to escalate their plans toward the future. ROW showed no signs of backing down and neither could anyone else; she knew in ORB Cagalli and Athrun would be mobilizing while she was responsible for making sure her faction was ready for anything. She walked into the council room strongly and stood before all those who had reamined her loyal commanders.

"Welcome to you all," she said sitting down on the seat at the head of the table, "by now I am sure you are all aware that the PLANTs were taken from us by an agent of ROW. I fear Jayley had kept the PLANTs 'peaceful' but vulnerable and we will soon see what that is going to lead to. I invited you all here because I believe ROW is going to attack somewhere very soon; either here or ORB." She then stood up pointing back toward a screen that held pictures of different ROW ships gathering in space. "These are from our various hidden outposts in space, and it seems they are all ROW class ships. They have all been moving toward this area in space," she circled her hands over a map that appeared, "and we can no longer ignore their actions." Everyone was silent knowing that she was not done speaking, "we must make sure we are ready to mobilize at any minute for a battle is coming. We have seen this for awhile and now we must be completely ready for it. ROW must not advance anymore than they already have!" The room clapped at this.

"So we are mobilizing?" Andew Waltfeld asked with excitement in his eyes.

"We are mobilizing," Lacus repeated looking at each person sitting there. They had all effected her in some way and she was grateful to them for everything they had done. Their loyalty had followed her from the time she was a young girl and now she was a strong woman who would lead them to victory.

* * *

Meiko paced around the apartment trying to keep herself from crying at what she had just been forced to do. She had just sealed her fate and betrayed everything that she swore to herself to protect. Yaro and Uzumi and Leyas would all suffer because she was not strong enough and she hated herself for it. She then heard the door to her apartment open.

"You just keep getting weaker, don't you," she froze at the sound of the cold voice coming from behind her and she turned to find herself face to face with Jurme Krey, a pilot Liene had trained alongside her since they were kids. She never liked him as he was always unfriendly and competitive and he never liked her because no matter what she always seemed to be so much better than him at everything. Liene must have brought him down to earth as she knew Liene always favored his attitude over hers.

"I am not weak; I have never been," she spat not bothering to hide her strong dislike of the boy in front of her, "you're the weaker of us both because you have no care of what you hurt."

"And yet you've never stopped fighting for Liene," he laughed unnerving her, "we're both the same you see."

"No," Meiko said strongly as tears filled her eyes, "I am nothing like you!" She looked at him and he was surprised to see the burning hatred in her eyes. She had always been so little, so emotionless and now she was filled with anger like any other ROW agent he had met. There was a darkness inside of her that he could see, something that she had tried to fight but something that had been put in her from the time she was a little child.

"Your problem is that you will never admit that you belong in ROW," he said mocking her more, enjoying how hollow he was making her feel, "you are ROW's top agent. Your reputation in the world is legendary because everyone fears you. They fear that if they get on ROW's bad side Liene will send you."

"That's not true," Meiko yelled, "It's not just me."

"It is just you Meiko," he said, "and now you are breaking but then again you were always like glass, so very fragile." She angrily smacked her hands against his chest, her cheeks were tear stained and her heart was frozen.

"Just leave me alone," she said turning away.

"You've always been alone," he said before walking out the door.

* * *

She ran through the streets though the sun was long set, she had a destination and no one was going to stop her. She was fighting a war within herself not understanding why she always gave into Liene and not understanding why she felt like she did not belong in ROW. She had been raised by John Liene and that alone should inspire her trust in him but for some reason there was always a part of her that kept her from ever trusting him.

Her heart was racing as she thought about what Liene would do now with the information she gave him. The first thing she had thought was that he would try to steal them all from ORB to use to bring Lacus out of hiding but she realized he was not that stupid. He was going to use Jayley Lired, his puppet in the PLANTs to do all the work for him and her friends would suffer for it. She ran on not fully understanding what drove her to act against the organization to which she belonged but knowing that what she felt she had to do was greater than anything she had ever felt before. Yaro and Uzumi had become a part of her life in the short time that she was in ROW and for the first time ever she had more than one that she was willing to sacrifice everything for. She had allowed Liene to back her into a corner with Trey, and as her best friend she had to give in, but she would not allow that again.

She arrived at her destination in front of the large gates that led to the Attha mansion. It was dark and everything was closed off except for a few gaurds patrolling the area. She slowly slipped back not wanting to be seen in case she looked suspicions. This might not have been her best idea but at this late hour Liene and the rest were less likely to check on her. She quickly moved into the small grove in front of the mansion and pulled out a small phone. She quickly dialed Yaro's number, it had been very easy for her to memorize it. She hoped he would pick up.

"Hello," she heard a tired voice say and she spoke trying not to sound frantic.

"I'm outside the mansion," she said quickly, "there are guards, I need to speak to you now! Please come down and let me in!" He heard the fear and desperation in her voice and wondered what was going on. He quickly jumped out of bed and moved quickly.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Just hurry," she replied desperately, "I don't have much time!" It only took him a few minutes to explain things to the guards and after that he calmed her down telling her she should come in out of the cold before speaking to him. She was frantic but she knew he was trying to help so she went with him. Once there were inside she was unsure about her decision but she knew she could not afford to do nothing.

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" he asked looking into her scared violet eyes.

"It's awful," she said not sure where to begin or how much she should tell him. Thinking about everything that had taken place that day inspired fresh tears to come from her eyes and she finally got the courage to speak, "I know who you are."

"What?" Yaro asked surprised.

"Yes Yaro, I do," she looked down, "You are the adopted son of Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne. Your siblings names are Kiran, Leyas and Kayla it did not take long to make the connection from there." He did not say anything so she continued, "I didn't tell you earlier that I knew because I knew that you wanted to keep it a secret from everyone. I know why, because there are so many people out there looking for some way to connect your mother to ORB and then the PLANTs would attack or something. The world is so twisted." She quickly wiped tears from her eyes and looked at him. His face was thoughtful but he continued to be silent which made her more nervous than she was.

"I came here at this time because I was scared for you," she said trying to find the right words, "People are beginning to suspect. They are going to be looking for evidence that you are here so you and your siblings should not leave the mansion for anything!"

"How do you know?" Yaro asked confused, "and we're safe in ORB, no one knows us here."

"It didn't take me long to figure it out," Meiko spoke a little louder this time, "and it's not going to take others long either! You have to be careful, I'm saying this because I understand these things. I know things... and I don't want you to get hurt." Her voice broke as more tears came from her eyes, she was talking to him like a friend and yet she was his worst enemy. He was safe until she had come to ORB, it was all her fault that he was in danger now. Why couldn't she just tell him the truth? What would he say? Would he try to help her? Would he throw her out?

"We're fine Meiko," he said putting his arms around her trying to comfort her, "my family and I are safe here." Meiko pushed him away and looked at him.

"You won't be fine if you don't listen to me!" She protested, "stay out of sight and stay away from me."

"Stay away from you?" he asked confused again, "why? You're my friend, I care about you!"

"BUT YOU DON'T KNOW ME!" She yelled realizing that she might have just woken the rest of the house and whispered the rest, "I'm not a good person, I'm just not. I can't explain it but I want you to be safe so just forget about me." Yaro was surprised by her outburst, in all the time he spent with her she had never been so crazy as she was now. Something was bothering her and she was not telling him everything.

"You need to calm down," he said, "nothing is going to happen."

"I can't stay any longer," Meiko replied standing up, "I just had to warn you that you're in danger. Please, please just take my advice and stay safe!" He watched as she quickly walked from the room and headed down the stairs. He wanted to follow her but he knew she did not want him to so he stayed there stunned at what had just taken place. Her words had hurt him for some reason and he began to realize that he liked her more than just as a friend and that he was scared that something was going to happen to her. He quickly stood up and ran to the rail to discover that she was already gone.

"How can I stay away from you?" he whispered, "I love you." He was suprised at what he had just said; in the short time he had known Meiko Virea he had grown to love her.

* * *

"Well, well, well.. what have we here," Jayley smiled at the photos before her. It was as she had suspected all along, Lacus Clyne was allied with ORB and she finally had the evidence she needed. Lacus Clyne's four precious children were now in ORB and had been for quite sometime. This meant that ORB had at some point made contact with Lacus Clyne, for how else could her children have moved from the Eternal to ORB? Jayley laughed in delight as she thought about the possibilities. John Liene's little spy had proved useful after all! Upon receiving the information she had quickly called a council meeting and she knew that their time had come.

"I have called you all here today for an urgent matter," she spoke strongly a few hours later in front of the PLANT supreme council. Now all her doubters would see the strength that she had, "We finally have the evidence that ORB helped Lacus Clyne in her escape from justice. See the photos here," she pointed to a screen behind her, "Lacus Clyne's children have been hiding in ORB under the watchful eye of none other than Cagalli Yula Attha."

She was sure now that her reign in the PLANTs would be secure upon the upheaval of ORB, for they would either give up Lacus's location or suffer the wrath of the PLANTs.

* * *

"Stay away from the windows," Cagalli ordered as she had called the children out of school and forced then to return home. Yaro was confused as to what was going on but his aunt clearly was distressed by something that was going on. Kayla seemed to be the calmest of them all as Leyas and Kiran argued in hushed whispers about what might be going on. Uzumi had returned from school with them and him and Jeffery wanted to know what was going on as well. Cagalli sighed as she saw the six of them now sitting before. She whished Athrun was here with her to tell them but he had left to call Shinn on the problem that was now before them.

"What's going on?" Yaro finally asked and everyone was instantly silent waiting for her answer. She motioned for Kayla to come over and put an arm around her niece.

"Today when I was in council the nation of ORB received a transmission from the PLANT government," she looked down knowing that this news was going to hit them hard, "the PLANTs have discovered that you have been hiding here, how I do not know. But they have photo evidence of you being here and they have demanded us to hand you over to them and give them the location of your mother." They six pairs of eyes before her all looked alarmed and she quickly hurried to finish what she was saying, "I have discussed every alternative with the council and for now we have agreed that you are all just children. So we have told the PLANTs that we do not know the location of Lacus Clyne but when the Minerva asked us to take you in we thought it best to accept. We have claimed that you are children and that we took you from your mother to prevent you from being corrupted. Our offical actions are not in the service of Lacus Clyne but in the preservance of innocence." She had done the best she could now she only hoped the children could accept this.

"Does this mean that we have to leave?" Leyas asked, "because they won't let up! Jayley Lired is not known for just giving up on something and if she supects..." Cagalli cut her off.

"No," she said strongly, "we are not sending you away now, not after all this time. Honestly, there is some debate on the council about what to do but for now I have the situation under control. What is important is that you all need to trust me."

"But we don't want to be the cause of war in ORB," Kiran said, "It's unfair for your people because we are not a part of this country." He was the most distressed by all of this because he was beginning to love the country and he did not want to see anything happen to it. Kiran was scared by the recent turn of events and with his father still missing he was completely nervous about what was going to happen.

"We will not allow there to be a war, Kiran," Cagalli said remembering the past times ORB had been forced to fight, "your uncle Athrun is calling back the Minerva and we will stand strong on this. We will not back down."

"What I want to know is how they found out we were here," Leyas said in an annoyed voice trying to piece it all together.

"We don't know that yet but we are working on it," Cagalli said looking around at the children she had vowed to protect, "What is important now is that we pull together and that we all stay safe. None of you are allowed to leave without either a body gaurd or another person guarding you. I suspect that there might be spies out there who are just waiting for you to make one false move. I encourage you to stay in the mansion as much as possible. I will handle the politics of the situation but the rest is up to you." These words brought memories of the night before to Yaro. Meiko had begged him to stay indoors and to stay safe because there were people looking for him. How did she know all this and what was she hiding from him?

* * *

Athrun worked quickly entering every code to open the frequency, he had to get in contact with the Minerva. He was not sure what region they were in now but he knew that they would return as quickly as they could once they got his message.

"Athrun?" he had done it, he heard Shinn's voice and saw his face on the screen before him. He knew that Shinn did not expect to hear from him any time soon. He also knew that the Minerva knew what was happening as well as anyone else on earth. The PLANTs had not just bothered to ask ORB alone, they had broadcasted their request to the entire world and now all eyes turned to see what would take place. Cagalli's response was sure to keep war at bay for now but Athrun was sure that ROW was not just going to wait around for the politics of the issue to settle.

"Shinn I trust you heard what is going on between the PLANTs and ORB now," Athrun said.

"Yes I have," Shinn replied affirming what Athrun knew, "I should have just taken the kids aboard the Minerva and spared us all this." Athrun sighed at that, Shinn had suggested it once but Athrun knew that Lacus wanted them completely off the battlefield and the peaceful land of ORB was just the right place for them until now.

"Then you know the situation we are in," Athrun sighed, "and we need your backup support in this. If the PLANTs do attack we will need you on our side."

"Meyrin was talking about this earlier," Shinn replied, "I told her we would await your orders but she was absolutely certain you would call us back so we left as soon as we could. We are now still in Africa and it may take us up to a week to get back with all the ROW ships about. Everyone is mobilizing out here, it's like we feared. Things are about to get a lot worse." Athrun was surprised by Shinn's words.

"But you said a few weeks ago that you had not found much ROW activity out there," Athrun declared wondering what changed.

"Not until now," Shinn replied, "we had a brush with a ship this morning and we keep sighting more and more. It's like they all just appeared out of nowhere! Like they were waiting for this to happen."

"If that's the case they may be mobilizing toward ORB," Arthrun replied with anger in his voice, "we can't allow this nation to fall, it is one of the last beckons of hope in the world!" Shinn nodded understanding every word Athrun said.

"Then we will hurry with every bit of strength we have," Shinn responded, "and we better pray Lacus was right and Kira is safe and coming back to us soon. If fight breaks out then we are going to need all the help we can get." How were they going to get out of this? Would a miracle come for them if a battle broke out or was the end near for them? They had fought and won so many times in the past but Athrun wondered if their luck was about to change. A person could only be so lucky in their life. His thoughts then turned to his son Uzumi and the darkness they boy was feeling; was it somehow connected with the mobilzation of ROW around the world? Would they get through this?

* * *

She sat staring at the world before her on the screen replaying the message to ORB over and over again trying to figure out what move would be made next. ROW was moving out and Liene was threatening her organization. Redemption would be destroyed if she made any move at this time but she could not afford to let ROW win. She felt anger growing inside her at the helplessness she felt now. She had not felt anything like this since the first war, so helpless and useless. She looked at the message before her again as her vow sounded in her head.

_I will save this world. I will intervene in the darkness. I will destroy ROW and John Liene. I will redeem myself._

This was just what ROW wanted, Liene wanted her to feel weak and helpless. He wanted her to sit back and be afraid to show herself but she knew something was happening that she could not ignore. She had found out where Meiko was and she was not going to let the girl get hurt by Liene's selfish schemes. Milady had been forced to leave the poor little girl behind all those years ago and she had vowed to her that she would return. Now she would not fail on any of the vows she made. She would have to get Kira back to Lacus and though she could not launch her own fleet she would watch and wait for the chance to do what she had planned from day one. She was not useless not now. The door behind her opened and she turned to see Yzak.

"I figured you'd be watching it again," he said walking up to her, "what are we going to do about all this?" She looked him in the eye with anger expressed on all her features.

"We are going to get Kira back to Lacus," she said, "I believe the STING has launched but we can not do anything about that but stay back. Liene will be expecting us to show up and he won't fire it until we do. Because of this the others will be safer if we hang back. Next we are launching the Reversal again but this time we are watching and waiting for our chance. For Meiko has been in ORB all this time right under our noses and we could have done something had we known but it is too late now. Our next step is to wait for her to make a move."

"Are you sure she will?" Yzak asked, "she has been with ROW since she was a baby, she has definitely changed since the last time you saw her. She's so different now Milday, she is a grown woman! She has made a choice to stay with ROW, a choice!"

"I know that Yzak," Milady yelled, "but I knew that child very well, I watched over her when she was alone. Liene had me take care of her and she is the reason why I saw the truth about everything. I can't give up on her like so many others have already, she has no one left and I know there is a light in her! I saw that light and goodness every time she smiled" Yzak knew the topic of the little girl was a touchy one to Milady, she had watched over the young girl from the moment she was left with ROW and she had always believed that the little girl was special and that she would see the light.

"I only hope you are right Milady," he sighed, "for everything you have done depends on her now."

* * *

Dearka watched as ORB was farther and farther away. Athrun had finally secured a safe way to get him back to the Clyne Faction base with a message to Lacus on what was really happening in ORB. The PLANTs were very angry with Cagalli for resiting them but with the world watching they were unable to attack for now. They had proof that the kids were there but they had no proof that Athrun and Lacus had ever met or that the Minerva is attached to ORB. The fear that they all had was getting stronger as they watched the skies waiting. He knew that the world was about to be turned upside down by whatever happened on earth. He turned to the girl that sat in the seat beside him as he flew the small shuttle. Mirallia Haw had asked to accompany him to the base with information on the fighting strength in ORB. She had been working as both a reporter and as a technician in Morganrate.

"Things are about to get crazy," Dearka said.

"I know," Mirallia replied, "but I am glad that we all have each other. The bonds that we formed in the last two wars are still strong enough to see us through this one, I have faith that we will make it through." He wanted to believe every word she said but he had a feeling that something terrible was about to take place. The ranks had to hold and none of them could afford to fold in fear now.

* * *

Leyas watched the sun set from the window in her room that faced the ocean. It was so peaceful and beautiful around her yet the world outside was trembling in darkness and fear. Her song was useless here in ORB and she knew that soon she would have to return to the PLANTs and revive the people that she loved so much. Though the peace of ORB had caressed her in hard times she knew she would always belong to the PLANTs for it was her real home and she hated abandoning it to darkness.

"Do you think that this thing will get resolved soon?" Yaro asked walking into her room. She turned around to face him and leaned back in the window. The room was still filled with the glow of the setting sun as she frowned.

"No," Leyas replied not bothering to hide her attitude about it all, "but I know that I don't belong here at all."

"What do you mean," Yaro asked. He knew Leyas had thrown the biggest fit about being forced to leave the PLANTs. He himself had been very happy to leave as ORB was his homeland from the time he was a child. He had never really felt like the PLANTs were his real home. Now he worried about ORB, the country was in danger because of him and his siblings and he was powerless to do anything.

"I mean I want to go home!" Leyas exclaimed, "I want to sing to my people again! The song of peace, of hope, of light! I want to drive away the darkness and stand before them as I used to and I know you want to be back at the Eternal inside of the Visage fighting for the truth. We both need to stand up and fight for what is real and stop sitting here!" Yaro knew that every word she spoke was true. He wanted to return to th Eternal to fight ROW and he knew that Leyas would always belong in the PLANTs. She had always been the one to stand on the stage proudly beside her mother and on her own encouraging the people. Lately she had become very restless waiting for another chance.

"I do want to return to the battlefield," Yaro sighed, "but I think that our wishes are about to be granted. This unrest has only gotten greater since we have been here and no one is going to deny us the right to fight for the future Leyas."

* * *

**Wow things are getting crazy, I just realized I am three chapters away from a major moment and six chapters away from one of the biggest moments in the series! I am so excited now, I hope to get to that point before the summer ends so hang on tight because things are going to get rough soon!**

**Because you have all been so good I am going to tell you the next few chapter names**

**Phase 15 - ROW's Sting**

**Phase 16 - So Much Like Falling  
**

**Phase 17 - Battle In Space**

**Phase 18 - The Final Breath**

**Phase 19 - A Race Run**

**Phase 20 - Standing Alone**

**Phase 21 - A Wish For Redemption**

**Phase 22 - Meiko Virea**

**Hope that keeps you interested in what is coming next. I'm getting really excited and kinda anxious about how the rest of the events are going to play out. I have the basic outlines of each chapter written out but I usually get really suprised as I start writing them. At this point there are a few characters that I really love what when I originally wrote them I did not have huge plans for them. There are things that I have written that I did not originally plan that I have been very happy with. **

**So keep reading cause there is so much more coming!**

**REVIEW! REVIEW! Seriously your reviews lately have encouraged me so much that I have been trying to update at least once every week so keep them coming!**

**Thanks for reading**

**-WintersChill  
**


	16. ROW's Sting

**Preview: Meiko Virea had been resolved to protect Yaro and Uzumi but when Liene threatened to kill Trey she broke. Now John Liene has given his noewfound information to the PLANTs and they have threatened ORB. Cagalli is standing strong to protect the children but many members of the council want to give them up to save their home instead. Athrun has called the Minerva to return as he fears a battle is coming. Yaro is trying to figure out why it is that Meiko is breaking so much while Uzumi is fighting to get stronger to overcome the darkness that he feels. Milady Redemption has launched a plan to get Kira back to Lacus and to protect those who may be entering battle very soon. Lacus Clyne has begun to mobilize the large force of Clyne faction that reside at the moon base as another portion prepares the secondary base in case Liene locates them. Things are heating up as Yaro and Uzumi may be returning to the battlefield soon and Meiko will be forced to stop wavering between two sides.**

**Survivor18 - I have tried posting the photos on the homepage and that does not work. Is there any photo site you can access like Flickr or Photobucket?  
**

Phase 15 - ROW's Sting

* * *

A blast hit the walls, a bigger blast than anything the people of that nation had ever seen. Terror was infinite as everyone ran in panic trying to hide from the warship that had fired into their homeland. It was a dark day as the sky was riddled with ash and the ground was terrorized by fire. Children cried in the streets for their parents and parents searched desperately for their children. One fifteen year old stood on the street that he used to live on crying knowing all his family were dead. His world had just been shattered and nothing could change that.

"Come son," he heard an elderly voice say and turned to see an old man standing there, "It's not safe here." The boy took a step back with tears still flowing from his eyes when the old man asked, "what is you're name?"

"Skye," the boy said crying more as he turned to his home, "my family... Why?" The elderly man looked at him with sadness.

"Because this world is full of strife," the man said, "but you must come with me, for with me you will be safe." Skye was not sure whether or not to trust this man but he had nowhere else to turn.

"I will avenge them!" Skye said turning toward the sky with anger in his eyes, "whoever did this will feel my rath." The old man smiled, the anger in this boy would serve his organization well; ROW had one more solider now because they tore the world apart then they picked up the broken pieces to reconstruct a new world. The world they would create would be perfect.

John Liene watched the nation weep from inside his new warship and he knew their time had come.

* * *

"Meiko warned me that something like this could happen," Yaro said as him and Uzumi watched the news. Every station seemed to be reporting about the gridlock between the PLANTs and ORB and it was all his family's fault. It had been a hard few days for Yaro and he was sure that there was more going on in the world than just this.

"She did?" Uzumi questioned. He knew Yaro and Meiko had spoken a couple nights before and that was the last time either of them had seen her. He was concerned for her, she was always broken about something and she was all alone. She seemed to need friends and comfort and he wondered if she was alright wherever she was. It made no sense that she could know that this was going to happen and he wondered if she had picked up on something.

"Yeah," Yaro flipped off the TV, "she said that I should be more careful because she figured it out and more people probably could."

"That is true," Uzumi replied thinking about the war ahead, "but I think I remember when she came because I heard some people talking. Wasn't it the night before the PLANTs threatened ORB?" Yaro nodded and Uzumi continued, "So she warned you right before the PLANTs found out. Do you think she knew somehow what they were planning?" Yaro had thought about it before but everything did not add up in his mind. There was no way the scared little girl could be involved with the entities that were now threatening everything he loved. He just couldn't bring himself to think the worst about her. He had not been allowed to leave the mansion to see her but he thought about her often.

"No I don't think she knew," Yaro replied, "she told me that she was worried that someone would figure it out not that someone had. Besides there is no way she could be involved with the PLANTs." Yaro was sure of what he was saying.

"Well in any case we're in for it," Uzumi said dropping the subject though he still had his suspicions, "Do you think that your mother will let us fight in the machines we had before?"

"Yes," Yaro replied, "I've been thinking a lot about it and your dad did say the Clyne faction is mobilizing. What will the PLANTs do when that happens? They are no match for all of us!"

"The politics of it all is a little bit more complicated than that Yaro," Uzumi responded, "part of the ORB council did know that Cagalii was helping Lacus but the other part is completely in the dark. I am not sure my mother can use the ORB military to fight alongside Lacus Clyne. That is if the PLANTs attack at all, they seem to be playing the game in a very peaceful way." Jayley had withdrawn the threat of attack and had just decided to place political pressure on the nation. This had confused Cagalli and Athrun and they had told Uzumi that they believed ROW had control and was calling the shots at what the PLANTs could do at this point.

"All I know is I am going to fight for peace," Yaro said clenching his fists, "the peace of this twisted world and the peace of my family."

* * *

"They aren't moving until we move," a council member yelled, "they want us to mobilize our military so that they are justified in an attack! This whole situation is your fault, Lady Cagalli!" She had expected this when she had arrived at the council this morning. The council was always a strange place for her because it was divided in half with half of the members knowing everything about her, Kira and Lacus and the other half knowing nothing. It had always been hard for her to balance her countries ideals with her own personal emotions. Lacus was her sister in law and standing behind a podium of neutrality was very hard for her. Only half of her council understood and she always faced opposition from the other half. It was a delicate balance that always kept her in check though she knew that the lines were blurring more and more with recent events.

"Neutrality has always been ours," Cagalli said diplomatically pacing in front of the group, "and politically my acceptance of Lacus Clyne's children is a symbol of that neutraility. Since the PLANTs have no other evidence other than the children we can strongly stand behind our beliefs the strongest now being that we will not allow another nation to attack us."

"If they did attack do you have a plan?" Gratsler asked critically, she always wished he was off the council. Of couse she had a plan. It had everything to do withe the Minerva and the Clyne faction being ready to rush to their aid.

"I do," Cagalli said breathing in knowing now was the time to reveal something to the other half, "Me and Lacus Clyne were friend in the past and as her children have put us in this situation I have no doubt that should the PLANTs attack she would offer her full support. I understand that this my conflict with the current world view of Lacus but I know her better than any of you and I know that she was wrongly accused in the PLANTs. Her efforts only ever trended toward peace, I mean how can you all forget Gibralter? She wrote the treaty that we all signed, a treaty to end the mass production of nuclear weapons and to downsize the militarism of different countries. We have endured peace for this long because of what she did. She has always been a friend to the world and I don't believe she was wrong but regardless of what I believe ORB was unable to help her do anything so we just stood by and watched this happen."

"I agree with Lady Cagalli," Duabi said rising and looking toward each of the council members, "there are a lot of things going on in the world right now that do not add up and it is up to us to not just blindly turn aside. True this nation was founded on neutrality but that is not the same as complacency. In this dark hour we can not afford to ignore everything. We don't have to break our beliefs and fight but we do have to make sure we know what every threat is no matter how small they seem. We have to continue to send aid to contries in turmoil and we have to strand strong."

"Thank you Duabi," Lady Cagalli said as he sat down, "It's as he says we will not back down and though we will not enter into war we will not stand by and let our nation fall! ORB will not burn again!" As she said the last statment the council clapped and and suddenly a member of the military burst into the council room out of breath and clearly troubled.

"Lady Cagalli," he said saluting, "we have an urgent message from Lacus Clyne. It seems ROW has attacked three nations in southern Africa this morning. They have totally collapsed and the devestation is massive." Cagalli suddenly cursed surprising the council as she turned to Athrun knowing he was thinking the same thing. They had been completely played by ROW, while the world was focused on the gridlock between ORB and the PLANTs no one would see ROW moving in. The world was in a greater danger than she had foreseen. Everyone on the council felt in and anger began to spread.

"We have to stop them," Cagalli said, "we can not allow them to attack here!"

* * *

Athrun sat in his office glancing over everything he had been given one more time, and he was very confused by what he found. Yaro sat in front of him waiting for what news he had discovered and hoping that the mystery of his own past was right in front of him.

"I know how much you wanted to find this information Yaro," Athrun said sighing, "but the truth is I have not found much."  
"Well what did you find?" Yaro asked still a little hopeful.

"Your records are very incomplete," Athrun said holding up the files, "I got them from the orphanage. You arrived at the orphanage sixteen years ago, right after the Destiny Plan was taken down. You were brought there by some woman who would not tell the Reverend her name but apparently she knew your mother. She said that your parents were dead and that she was unable to care for you. She would not reveal who they were or explain any more."

"So they don't even know who this woman was?" Yaro asked.

"No," Athrun replied, "only that she had short red hair and that she wore a white mask to hide battle scars. I'm sorry that I couldn't find more for you."  
"It's alright," Yaro replied standing up, "at least I know that they wanted me but they were unable to stay alive long enough. I really am grateful to you for trying to find them for me and I am very happy that I was adopted by a good family. I wanted to ask you if it is possible for me to contact my mother, Lacus. I need to ask her something very important."

"I don't think we can contact her but I do plan on trying," Athrun replied, "what is it you want to ask her?"

"If I can pilot the Visage again," he said with authority.

* * *

Uzumi walked through the halls of the apartment complex with the knowledge that something was going on with the girl he was going to see. She had cut off her phone, quit school and had not been in communication with anyone since the day ORB was threatened by the PLANTs. Uzumi had never been suspicious of her for anything but he knew she had visited Yaro the night before the event warning him about something. The pieces fit very loosely and Uzumi began to wonder if there was much more the Meiko Virea then any of them realized. She was an amazing mobile suit pilot after all and her fighting style did remind him of someone. This puzzled him as the only real battles he had been in were the ones against ROW agents. The idea that Meiko could be a part of ROW was bothering him because if that was true she was decieving both him and Yaro.

He was unsure of what he would find out here but he knew he had to see her. He had to know if she was lying to them all along or if she really was scared of everything; if she was really overcome by the darkness he now felt. He stood in front of her door scared that he would not like what he found but knowing that he could either face the truth or walk away and forget about her forever. The latter would be to hard for there was something about her that just connected with him. So he did the only thing he could do. He knocked on the door.

The door opened slowly revealing Meiko standing before him in the defeated posture he had seen her wear quite a few times. Her hair was a mess and her eyes looked like she had been crying. She looked shocked to see him there but quickly motioned for him to come in. He was surprised to find the usually neat apartment was a huge mess. It looked like someone had torn it up and looking at how she looked now he wondered if it was her. What was happening to this girl? He knew she was breaking from something but he did not know what.

"What happened?" he asked, she sat on the couch and buried her face in her hands. She then looked up toward him and spoke.

"I've lost who I am and I can't understand what is happening around me," her eyes were pleading with him not to blame her for anything, "and I'm torn. Uzumi, I don't know what to do! I don't know who I am! I don't understand why this all had to happen to me." Sobs wracked through her as she found herself unable to contain them. She did not deserve his comfort.

"I don't understand," he said just standing there staring at the girl he thought he was beginning to know, "who are you really?" She looked up toward him.

"I just said I don't know," she closed her eyes holding out her hands and he saw for the first time callouses like none he had ever seen. He had never before noticed how her hands were raw and rough, "but I know that I am not this. Uzumi I've been living the worst sort of life and every time I've tried to get out I have found myself unable to do anything but stand there and watch as everything I love is torn from me. That's the consequence of my doubt. I've tried to keep from caring about anything but I have never been able to be indifferent to things. I just don't know what I am going to do." Uzumi knelt down beside her and closed her open hands then looked into her dark eyes.

"Why?" he asked simply and she understood that he knew everything. He had made all the connections and he had come to the right conclusion.

"Have you ever pointed a gun at someone and watched the life leave them?" she asked and he shook his head no, "the only thing that is worse is watching a gun get pointed at someone you care about and being forced to choose between two things you want to protect. I've been everywhere in this damned world and I've felt the hurts of so many. I've caused those hurts and I've tried to run from it all but every time I am brought to a choice someone dies and I will not let anyone die this time because it's always my damn fault it happens." Uzumi knew now that his suspicions were correct. She was in ROW but she did not want the life they had forced her into. He began to understand now that ROW was more than an organization it was a monster that held people like Meiko captive through threats and death. She was his enemy and his friend at the same time and he was not sure what to do about it but he knew he had grown to care about her. He was angry at what he had just discovered but a huge part of him felt compassion for her and he knew that he could not just turn his back on her.

"Come with me now," he said giving her a slight smile, "leave it all behind, break free from this cycle of pain. Meiko I believe that you are still a good person, you warned Yaro and I believe that you can be freed from all this. Please Meiko come with me." Her eyes darkened more with sadness.

"I can't," she said looking down.

"Why not?" Uzumi asked, "I know you don't want this! You can't just let your life be ruled by them. Meiko you have to fight or else they win again and you will never be able to taste freedom."

"No," Meiko said desperately, "you don't understand! They have Trey, my friend and if I leave he will die! I can't let that happen again! I have lost everyone and if I leave they will kill him and I will be responsible for the death of someone else and my life will be more of a hell than it is already." Uzumi was shocked at this, ROW was forcing this girl to choose between her friends, "Now you see what I have gone through my entire life."

"There has to be some other way," Uzumi said.

"You can turn me in but they will still kill him if I am gone," she replied, "so if you want to help me you'll stay away from me because if they get you too then I don't know what I'll do." He saw that there was no way out of this situation. He could not ignore the fact that his friend was a ROW spy but he also could not ignore everything he now understood about her. Her life was a lie that she was forced into by threats that her friends would be killed. He was unable to solve her problems, unable to save her and he found himself unable to turn her in.

"I can't turn you in," he said standing up, "but you need to decide who's side you are on Meiko for there is so much more to life than this."

"You've never killed anyone have you?" Meiko asked knowing what his answer was, "My hands are stained with the blood of many and I don't think that I could find redemption even if I chose to walk out now. I am unsaveable and you would be much safer if you had never known me."

* * *

"Make sure we have a resupply of everything on the whole fleet," Lacus said. She was now standing in the largest hangar in the Clyne faction factory. She had been issuing orders for the past three hours and she constantly had commanders asking her more questions. Andrew Waltfeld stood beside her now as they had watched the base come to life with the orders of a coming mobilization.

"I think we are prepared for anything now Lacus," Waltfeld said.

"Don't let anything make you complacent," she said holding out a file for him to see, "it seems our spy's have discovered what it was that caused devastation in three countries at the same time." He opened the folder and was shocked at what he saw, it was something like a ship but much larger than any he had ever seen. On one side of the ship there was a giant cannon and on the other side was a huge hangar.

"The Sting," Watlfeld said reading the title on the photo and absorbing the features of this massive weapon, "How could anyone build something like this without someone finding out? How could the world just turn a blind eye to this kinda power?"

"Because everyone has already sacrificed so much," Lacus said with determination, "No one wants to believe that this world is going down again when we earned peace all those years ago. So many of us still remember the pain of the battlefield and it is something we have wanted to forget for years."  
"Well if ROW attacks us with that then we will need to be ready," Waltfeld said, "ready to face death again."

* * *

Milady sat observing all the data that she had discovered on the recent ROW movements and the launch of the Sting. It was as she had suspected, the cannon on the warship was powered by a certain crystal that ROW had been mining on Mars. This calmed her fears as she realized that ROW had too many design flaws to make this weapon as threatening as the Genesis or the Requiem. She only worried about what else they might have planned for surely Liene wouldn't only count on one inefficient cannon to win him the battlefield.

Three of her commanding officers all sat in the same room with her looking over the data. One of her ROW spies has successfully sent her a layout of the battle ship but she knew finding it's weaknesses would be a tricky thing.

"We have heard reports that the Clyne faction is mobilizing and that the Minerva was sighted in Africa moving toward ORB," one of the officers said informing her of things she already suspected.

"Lacus Clyne is no fool," Milady said flipping through some of the files she saw, "if I know her she will mobilize full force and she probably knows about the Sting. All she needs now is Kira to ensure that she will be victorious. With ROW still wavering between ORB and Lacus we don't know where they will strike first."  
"Do you think this Sting can fire from the atmosphere?" Yzak asked.

"I don't doubt that it can," Milady replied, "for that would be the easiest way to attack ORB and Liene has always hated ORB."

"But if your correct Meiko is in ORB now," Yzak replied, "and John Liene would never just blast his finest warrior off the face of the earth. As long as she is there they are safe."

"But how much longer will she be there?" Another officer asked.

"Enough," Milady said standing up, "I have explained to you all what we are doing and why we can not completely mobilize and follow Lacus now. We still are not strong enough to be of any help to them. The Redemption and the Dreamer are still not finished and until they are and until their pilots are ready we are weak. Now take the orders I gave you and follow them, I have other business to attend to." With that she turned and walked out of the room.

There was one person who did not know everything that was going on and as most of it concerned his family he deserved to know it all. Kira Yamato had been silent since Yzak spoke to him but she knew he hated being cut off from the world and from news of his family. She walked down to the medical bay where he was still kept and stepped through the door. She received a salute from the Doctor and she nodded back and signaled him to leave. Kira stood up as she entered.

"Do you have news of my family?" he asked quickly. She held up her hand for him to sit down and he did.

"I have a lot to say so don't interrupt me," she said looking down, "your children were sent to ORB after your wife was forced to flee the PLANTs to them. At the time everyone knew that this was a liability but that did not keep them from doing it..."

"Because we trust the people in ORB," Kira said interrupting, "and Lacus would want the kids away from the battlefield."

"Yes," she replied, "I know all that very well. What your sister did not count on when she authorized this is that ROW would send a spy into ORB to try and find anything to link ORB to Lacus. The spy was a young girl name Meiko Virea and she found everything she was looking for because she found your children..."

"Are they still safe?" he asked quickly.

"Yes," she replied sighing in annoyance, "just listen. ORB has received a threat from the PLANTs but that is not our biggest concern at the present. Redemption spies have picked up information on ROW and it seems they are mobilizing and that they have launched a new super ship. We are monitoring the situation and it also seems that the Clyne faction is mobilizing. There will be a battle but it can not be won without you."

"So are you taking me back to them?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied, "though Redemption can not help them now you can." Milady then left and Kira was left to ponder what she had said,

His family was in danger but luckily it would not be too long before he would see them again. His thoughts turned to his children and Lacus. They were the most important things in the world to him and he would fight thousands to make sure that they were safe from harm. It was vow he had made the day that Leyas and Kiran were born and now he would fight for a peaceful world for their future.

* * *

He had known for awhile that she was breaking yet he had not wanted to admit it to himself. He had failed to create Meiko into the perfect solider and instead he was stuck with the knowledge that he should have worked harder to keep her from the world. She had grown to love to many things and she had learned that there was another way she could live her life. This tore her in two and all he could do was keep her afraid, and he knew that she would not be afraid forever. Already she had tried to stand up to him, she had failed but what mattered is that she tried. He knew he had to speak to her like he had when she was a child. He had to tell her of the 'peace' and restoration that he sought and how that goal is the reason why he raised her. He knew he had to speak to her for if she became any more bold he might loose her.

Mike now stood with him on the bridge of one of his finest and fastest ships a few miles outside of ORB, the Mirage. Mike Shustre had helped him train Meiko from the time she was a little girl and Liene knew his gentleness and easiness was part of the reason why Meiko was so soft. Still Liene was greatful to Mike for all he had done and he remained a close ally to Liene. They had fought together for a long time and in that time Liene had began to see that part of Mike sought to waver from the path ROW had dictated but he fought that half for the sake of the organization. Though many officers railed against him Liene decided that he was one of the best they had.

"Why would Meiko lie to me?" Liene asked him knowing that Mike had an answer. Mike clearly understood Meiko very well and he knew her motives.

"The answer is right in front of you," Mike began breathing in, "You sent her into ORB to befriend Uzumi Zala, a boy known to make friends easily. It is obvious to me that he showed her a kindness she had never known before and they really became friends. I also believe that she and the Yamato children might have become friend and then there is the matter of Yaro Yamato."

"The adopted child?" Liene asked suprised that Mike would single him out.

"Yes," Mike said, "He is her same age and his first time on the battlefield was impressive for having no experience. There is something about him that I am just not sure about though, I just don't know."

Liene began to think about that child. Yaro Yamato had always been an interesting boy. He was adopted from an orphanage in ORB, the one that Lacus and Kira had stayed at for two years after the first bloody valentine war. Lacus had apparently met Yaro when she was hiding from John Liene's threats during the Gibralter incident. Yaro Yamato had been known in the PLANTs as a very sweet and gifted boy with a big heart for the world. Other than that his past was a complete mystery to all.

"Well we have to get Meiko back here as soon as possible," Liene said looking out toward the sea, "for if those two boys have had any effect on her it has to stop. Go back to ORB and bring her here. Leave nothing behind."

* * *

Meiko heard a knock on the door, it seemed that people were coming to visit her more and more now. She was still shaken from her meeting with Uzumi but she concluded that he had not turned her in as no one had come for her, until now. Her heart started beating very quickly as she rose up to answer the door. Her apartment was almost completely packed away as she knew that Liene would be coming for her very soon. Now that her mission was complete she was a liability if she continued to stay in ORB and though she did not look forward to it she knew the battlefield was coming very soon.

She stepped toward the door and opened it to reveal Yaro standing in front of her. Her heart nearly stopped seeing him and remembering how she had betrayed him and his family. It was all her fault that he was in trouble now and she could not shake the feeling of guilt that plagued her so. He now stood in front of her expecting nothing from her but an explanation and she knew it was time to give it.

"How did you know that this was going to happen?" he asked looking deeply into her eyes. She saw something there she had never seen before and she wasn't sure what it was but she knew that it made her feel almost happy. Something about him had changed and she knew that it had also changed in her. She had almost found her courage because she wanted to protect him yet she had allowed herself to fail and because of that she could not face what she had become.

"Come inside," she said opening the door wider and the wiping the tears from her eyes, "for I owe it to you to tell you everything." He walked in thinking about how he had just snuck out of the mansion because he had to see her now that he was here he wasn't so sure he wanted to know. She was so very important to him now for she had become an irreplaceable part of his life and he couldn't imagine that she could do anything that would make him love her less.

"Meiko," he said reaching for her closed hand, unsure of herself she opened it and let his hand rest in hers, "you don't have to tell me anything." Right there hand in hand he felt the callouses that were so prominent on her hand. She looked at him with tears in her eyes being unable to explain what was going on inside of her.

"It will change everything," Meiko said taking a step closer to him not knowing what force drove her, "everything you feel now will be gone once you hear what I have to say."

"Then don't say it," he said wanting to wrap his arms around her but resisting, "I don't need to know. I want us to stay like this, and I promise you nothing that you could ever do could change anything I feel for you." In this moment there was no reason in her mind, she did not understand what it was that was going on but she found herself unable to think clearly and unable to deny what she felt. He moved closer to her and she followed. He took her other hand in his.

There was no sound as their eyes locked stuck in each other's gaze they both moved together. Their lips touched as they met each other with all the emotion that they had been feeling for the past few days. Unsure of themselves they quickly broke apart but he took the initiative and quickly caught her lips. Her arms wrapped around his head and his wrapped around her waist. She had never felt this way in her entire life, as if nothing else mattered but him and she forgot all that she had done. Their hearts both beat wildly as their kiss intensified.

_You don't deserve him._

Her head suddenly broke from the reigns of her heart and she quickly pulled away from him. He looked at her shocked at what had just taken place. Her heart raced with fear and guilt for everything she had done in the past.

"This isn't right," she said taking a step back and letting tears fall from her eyes, "you have to stay away from me."

"But Meiko," he said reaching a hand out toward her, she quickly backed away, "I can't stay away from you. I love you." Tears flowed from her eyes as she gazed on something she could never have standing before her.

"You love me?" she asked feeling her heart shatter as she remembered that she believed herself incapable of love, "you can't love me. I'm nothing like you, It's all my fault..." Her voice broke as she sobbed right there in front of him.

"Meiko," he said taking her in his arms and holding onto her tightly. She let him hold her for a moment but she quickly pushed away.

"I'm an agent of ROW," she heard herself say and she knew she would not be able to hide it from him anymore, "and everything you are going through right now is my fault. Because I was to weak to stand up to him and because I am the worst sort of person there is." She was unable to expand upon that because of how she found it hard to breath at this moment.

"No," Yaro said as he tried to fight the anger in him, "you can't be!"

"I was given to ROW when I was a baby," she responded yelling, "I never had a choice! I was theirs and they have my best friend and they will kill him if I leave! They threatened to kill him before and I know they will do it!" Yaro looked at her shocked, all this time and she had been bound to his enemies.

"But you don't want them do you?" Yaro responded unable to hide some of his anger, "you don't want them to control you any more do you?"

"I have only ever desired to be free of them," Meiko replied, "but I have nowhere to go and I have no way of saving Trey if I just leave. I don't know what to do Yaro you have to understand me. I never wanted to hurt you, I tried to lie to Liene but he saw right through me. You and Uzumi are the best people I have ever met and when I found out that I had to hurt you I lost everything. I am an empty hollow shell of a human being and I have hurt so many though my inability to stand up to them."

"So you are just giving up again?" Yaro said, "I can't believe that there is no way to save you! You have to fight them!"

"I have!" Meiko yelled this time, she hated telling Uzumi that she was impossible to save and now she found herself having to tell Yaro as well, "I have tried to resist them and every time I do they kill someone I care about. They have me backed against a wall Yaro, I either continue with them or face the fact that I have caused more death. I don't want this but I can't escape it."

"Please just let me help you," Yaro said as pain filled his eyes, she drew in a sharp breath seeing it. Her mobile suit was the Pain and she inflicted it wherever she went. She knew she stood at a crossroads in life as she had so many times in the past but she found herself unable to choose a path. She seemed to be forever sitting at the crossroads never becoming passionate about anything except her own pain. Now she realized that every choice she seemd to make was selfish and this realization was driving her mad. There was always something in her life holding her back from becoming completely evil but she did not know how to take hold of it. She wanted so much more but she couldn't take it. She couldn't take the pressure she now faced.

"You can help me by staying safe," she replied, "and praying that there is some way for my soul to be redeemed and that this world will find peace." She said this as she opened the door for him and he realized she wanted him to leave. He wanted to take her with him, to hold her close and say that he was going to save her but instead he just walked out feeling pain growing in his heart. She was on a path that would lead to her own destruction and there seemed to be no way to save her.

* * *

"We have a lot ahead of us," Lunamaria said. She had floated into the hangar to find Shinn going over his mobile suit's condition for the fourth time, he seemed to be nervous about whatever was coming next. The Minerva now moved quickly toward ORB but Lunamaria was sure they would not make it in time for the battle. They had been set back a few hours earlier by a small ROW attack which had surprised them. Things seemed to be rough throughout the rest of the coutries they had to go through and she was sure they would continue to be attacked.

"Spare me your ice today Luna," Shinn said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, "I have to much to deal with right now so just save it." She frowned at his words and her first instinct would be to lash back but she knew he was justified in what he had just said. They were all going through a lot and her fued with him was beginning to wear on them both. They had been able to work together without hurting each other but now that she had thought about the gravity of the situation they were in she no longer felt a resentment toward her. She had began to realize that in the battles ahead she could not be entirely certain that anyone would come back alive and that had changed her quite a bit. Now was the time to establish friendship not to expand upon a rift between two people.

"I have no ice today," she said looking down, "I have been thinking a lot about the second valentine war and the destiny plan and everything we went through back then. I mean we were so much and I began to realize that my resentment of you is not entirely fair. I mean I never did let you explain what happened that day." He looked up at her a little surprised and half expected her to retract what she had just said.

"I was called to be a part of the Gibrlatar treaty and I forgot about our date," he replied, "I was wrong, I should have called you and explained."

"Well I was wrong about not letting you explain," she replied feeling a little happier about the situation, "I mean the Gibraltar treaty was huge, it singlehandlely ended the distribution and creation of nuclear weapons in the world. I would have jumped at that opportunity."

"I am just glad we are finally speaking about this," Shinn replied with a smile, "I've been very focused on trying to keep my head in this war that I have let our relationship continue to be rocky at the expense of those around us. So can we be friends now?" She smiled at him and held out her hand.

"Truce?" she said.

"Truce," he responded taking her hand. The battles ahead would be hard but they were glad to be side by side together ready to face the world.

* * *

"One of our scout troops was shot down," a Technician on the bridge of the Eternal declared. Lacus Clyne had boarded to see that preparations were going smooth and now she was glad that she had.

"No," she said looking toward Andrew Waltfeld, "they have found us! Start the emergency evacuation procedures immediately! Open the tunnel and get everyone out of here." The technicians quickly scrambled to type in the coded sequence which would alert the entire base and soon the alarms were going off everywhere. Everyone scrambled to load everything they could on the ships as fast as possible and they all prepared the lineup for the factories biggest secret. A tunnel through the moon that was invisible to anyone above that would shoot them out ten miles from the site. If ROW had come they were ready.

As soon as the exit started a large blast rocked the base taking three ships with it and Lacus Clyne saw it on the screen for the first time. The Sting was there but it had used one blast and it was now sending swarms of mobile suit teams, a model that she had never seen before.

"Order the defense troops to attack full force! We need to hold them off until the evacuation is complete!" she yelled. Everyone rushed to obey her orders and she prayed that they would all make it out alive.

* * *

**So I think this is a little shorter than the last few but I really wanted to get it done tonight because I knew I wouldn't have any more time later. My summer has gotten a little crazy but I still plan on trying to update very week.**

**So hold on tight and REVIEW! I think I got the most amount of reviews I have ever gotten for one chapter right after the chapter came out last week! I was so excited, I seriously read them over and over again! You are all so great and you really are what keep me writing this! Thanks for being so great and keep Reviewing!**

**-WintersChill  
**


	17. So Much Like Falling

**Preview: Yaro and Uzumi now know about Meiko's identity as a ROW agent and they both have separately acknowledged that Meiko is in ROW against her own will. Liene has called for Meiko to return to ROW now. With the PLANTs putting pressure on ORB the world has been blinded by what is really going on. ROW has launched attacks on weaker nations and finally they have attacked the Clyne faction base. Milady Redemption has declared she is sending Kira to Lacus but will he make it in time? What will happen to Meiko when she gets back to ROW? Will she ever really be able to face the battlefield again? Will Liene's army finally be ready to attack ORB?  
**

Phase 16 - So Much Like Falling

* * *

Explosions continued to shake the base as the evacuation proceeded. Lacus watched the progress as many of the ships ran from the ROW attack. The Eternal was set to go through the tunnel soon but she did not know if they would be able to make it until them. She would not allow them to let her go first as the commander she wanted to stay behind and make sure a majority of them got out before her. She would not have been able to bear the thought of being the only one to get to safety. The base crews were scrambling to keep their firepower up and there were several mobile suit teams trying to fight the ROW warriors. Lacus wondered why the large blast that had been the first blast to hit the base had not bee repeated. She realized it must have been the large cannon on ROW's new warship and she wondered if it was going through a recharge.

"Lacus we have to go next we might not be able to hold them off," Andrew Waltfeld said, he was tired of waiting as he knew his first priority was to keep Lacus safe but she kept insisting they wait. Something was going on with her mind as she had slipped into seed mode a few minutes earlier but she had slipped out by now. He was a bit distressed by this attack, Lacus seemed to want to retreat rather than just to face them. If they stayed to fight the warship then they would probably have a better chance.

"Just a few more," she replied looking up as the seed mode overtook her again, "we have to wait for a few more minutes." He knew better than to argue with her but things were getting tense out there. She knew what the seed mode was and she welcomed the strength it was giving her, she knew what she was doing. The ROW ship would have to be driven back but she could get in a mobile suit and command a team herself so she waited for the miracle she knew was coming. Somehow she just know it.

"Have everything left launch from the back gate," she replied reminding Waltfeld of their other options, "we're going to attack ROW head on and we're going to drive them back." She was determined now. The back gate would allow them to circle around the attack and hit ROW from above. This would given them an advantage if ROW's weapon did not fire again.

"Rodger," Waltfeld said issuing the orders and soon the ship was flying at top speed toward space.

* * *

"Sir the Eternal has launched and it is leading a team of eleven ships toward us now," a bridge member said to Liene as he sat aboard the Predjudice.

"Good," Liene replied, "Have the STING prepare the next crystal but wait until Redemption's arrival." Liene knew Milady Redemption would not be able to resist a fight with him if it meant joining the whole Clyne faction. In his mind she was still that ignorant little girl and he believed that she would come. He had learned where the Clyne faction base was from one of his patrols in space. They had spotted some abnormal activity and he knew that he had found Lacus.

The STING set out armed with a mere two Crystals, a supply he knew was measly for a cannon that needed a new Crystal every time it fired but he believed he would only need two for now. He had sent for a supply from Mars, and he knew it would come before his battle with ORB.

* * *

"Launch all mobile suit teams," Lacus Clyne yelled over the radio to her ships and watched as the machines streamed from the ships, her own led by Dearka Elsman. Besides the large ship, ROW had only brought a small fleet and she was sure if that machine did not fire again her fleet was superior.

"Lacus those mobile suits!" Miriallia Haw joined them on the bridge and now she saw something she knew could not be possible. Lacus saw it to, the mobile suits had no cockpits. What was this new weapon that Liene had? They were being led by some standard ROW suit but there were swarms of them, mechanical mobile suits.

"They have no pilots!" Lacus declared angrily, ROW was using computers to kill people and her troops were trained to disarm. How could they disarm machines that were only arms? They would have to destroy them, she had to warn them all, "Tell all mobile suit teams to destroy those red suits, they have no pilots! They are robots!" She watched as the alert sounded and a few of her own machine were destroyed. They could not back down to this new threat though she now understood why the STING was so large. It held an army of these things and as machines they would never tire, they were almost invincible. She knew that her troops would have to be at the top of their games today.

"Fire our main cannons at that swarm of robotic units," Lacus declared suddenly feeling the pull of the seed again, "don't let them get to our own machines." The cannon on the eternal was fully charged so it was able to fire a large blast taking out quite a few of those machines.

"Lacus Clyne," she looked as John Liene's face appeared on screen, "So you see that the rules of war have changed. You will have to destroy us to stop us or I can offer you a deal."

"I don't make deals with the devil," Lacus responded standing up with authority, "you have attacked a group of people who desire peace and your days are numbered Liene. There is a revolution taking place and it is not yours, it will eclipse yours and it will bring a real peace." She felt strong now, much stronger than she had in a long time.

"You're being unreasonable," Liene replied, "we can crush you all right here or you can save the lives of everyone around you if you just tell us all you know about redemption." Lacus's mind was interrupted as she heard a voice she knew well, her heart beat quickly as she turned to one of the monitors and saw a small shuttle heading toward the Eternal. This was not even possible, it was beyond her wildest dreams as her hopes began to quicken.

_"I'm coming Lacus, hold on." _Kira's voice.

"Liene you will never succeed," she simply responded rushing from the bridge shocking everyone there. Waltfeld quickly took over as he recieved an odd transmission from another source not Liene.

"I'm coming aboard now just hang on you all," Suddenly the reason for Lacus's actions was suddenly clear to them all as they saw Kira Yamato's face on the screen.

"What! But you! YOU! Where have you been all this time!" Waltfeld yelled as the transmission faded and he knew Kira would be aboard soon. The Freedom would launch and ROW would shake from what they would experience.

* * *

Her heart beat wildly as she rushed into the hangar to see the shuttle landing, this day was a day she had been dreaming of since the day he left. She could scarcely believe it was not a dream and she knew that the battle outside could not shake the happy feeling that was raging on the inside of her now.

"Kira!" she called out his name passing everyone, ignoring their gazes of confusion. She could only feel the presence of one person and as he opened the door of the shuttle and floated out she felt peace of mind escalate. She rushed to him and him to her as they both longed to feel the safety of each others arms. They met and grasped hold of each other both feeling tears of joy as they said each other's names.

"I love you so much," Kira said holding her close, "and I've missed you more than you will ever know but you have to let go now Lacus."

"No," Lacus said, "never again will I let go." She slowly loosened her grasp around him and looked into his eyes, "you've come just in time though." He quickly caught her lips in a gentle kiss being unable to contain himself anymore. He had missed the feel of her lips against his own. He had missed everything about her during his time away. When they parted she let go of him and took his hands and they both turned to face the Strike Freedom that sat in the hangar. It was just the same as it had been sixteen years ago, a battle raged around them and he was there to save her from it all.

"I will return soon Lacus," he said letting go of her hand and floating toward the machine. She nodded and knew it was true. She then hurried to the bridge as he launched. They would make it through this battle together.

* * *

He lifted his head as his machine was catapulted into space. His hands gently floated over the controls as he remembered everything that it took to fight in this machine. He quickly grasped his controls and fanned out his wings showing the Clyne Faction that they had reason to feel hope now. He had returned and he was fighting for them now, for their freedom so that they could escape to safety. His seed exploded in his mind as he called upon it and he began his transmission.

"I want mobile suit teams A17 and A31 with me now," he declared with authority, "we are going in!" He then switched his broadcast to everyone, "Ready for this Liene?" He asked as soon as he saw the tyrants face.

"You'll never succeed," Liene replied.

"Just watch me," Kira said cutting the transmission as the two mobile suit teams he called gathered around him. A17 was led by Dearka. He moved quickly and they followed into the thick of the robotic units. Kira quickly let the tips of his wings go to fire on many of them at the same time broadcasting to his group that their weak spot was their backs. He took out unit after another breaking through as what few mobile suits could make it through followed him. He bore down toward the STING as it continued to launch units.

"Have mobile suit teams B12 and A26 head toward the two ROW ships on the right," Kira continued to issue orders taking control of the battlefield with expert skill. He and his teams concentrated on that hangar. He did not have to instruct them as they all fired everything at the hangar doors seeking to blast them shut. He could feel the cheers of the Clyne Faction as they fought with more assurance than before. Oddly he could hear their voices in his mind and he could feel them around him waiting for his orders. His mission on the hangar was complete as it was sealed shut by the blanket of heat. He knew ROW would recover from this soon so everything depended on his next moves. As B12 and A26 headed toward the right of the STING he headed to the left to fight the ships.

Suddenly he felt danger intense danger threatening his mind and he called out to the Clyne faction.

"Take the ships back! The STING IS GOING TO FIRE!" He yelled just in time as all engines fired up at his word and scattered. The STING's large green beam shot and he saw for the first time the destructive power Liene had built. It tore through space taking out one staggering ship and completely desitegrating it. The beam kept going until it hit the moon behind them turning every rock into dust. He silently prayed that the machine would be unable to fire something of that magnitude again.

He continued his mission against the ships focusing on he engines while his team focused on the enemy mobile suits. He quickly weaved through the firepower of the ships with speed and agility unmatched by any on the battlefield. Lacus had seen to it that the Strike Freedom had been updated enough to keep it a step ahead of most standard suits.

Soon the ships on both sides were all partially disabled and Lacus ordered a quick withdraw. The shots from both sides ceased as they faced off. Mobile suits and ships staring each other down until Liene fired his signal flares calling all his units back. Kira began to head back to the ship when a transmission was sent to him.

"This isn't the end Yamato! Mark my words this is only the beginning! You will feel the full power of ROW soon enough and you will shake beneath it," Liene's voice echoed in his mind as the transmission ended. Kira's heart sunk as he knew that this was not all that ROW had. For some reason he felt that they had not seen the last of what the STING could do. Kira had seen the plans at Redemption, Liene needed crystals from Mars to fire it and Kira knew that Liene would be sure to have quite a few more of those next time they met. Dark days were upon them now.

* * *

Lacus held onto Kira as they lay side by side that night. The Eternal was with the remains of the Clyne faction 16 ships total. They were all heading to meet with the ORB fleet over ORB for they knew that was where Liene would strike next. Six of the ships would head to the Clyne faction backup base along with the plans for a couple of amazing mobile suits. They would have to construct those suits soon but Lacus knew they would not be done in time for the battle ahead.

"It's been hard without you," Lacus said as Kira ran his hand through her long Pink hair, "but we made it and we did not loose faith. I knew you would come back." He smiled at that, she was always so strong even though no one really saw it. Her strength was truly beautiful and captivating because it always shined at its brightest when she had every reason to be afraid. The battle before she had kept strong even when the odds were against her and though there were many lives lost she had kept the Clyne Faction together.

Now her thoughts turned to everything he had told her about what he went through in ROW and how he suffered for a little over a month with Redemption wondering if he would ever be able to return to her. They had both been through so much and they had both remained the same as ever both belonging to each other completely.

"I missed you more than anything," Kira whispered kissing her softly, "and I thought of you every moment."

"I can't believe you went through all that alone," she sighed reaching up to caress his face with her hand, "and we still have so much to face."

"But all that can wait for now," he said kissing her again, "for now we have each other and we know that nothing that happens around us can change that."

* * *

The world around him was very busy and Jeffery Zala watched in awe as everyone seemed to be scrambling to get things done. It was his first time every seeing Morganrate so busy. His mother had allowed him to accompany her to the large military base and factory where she was on business and the whole experience frightened him a little. He had heard stories of the horrors of the great wars but he had been comforted that those had passed now he saw his country loading every strength they had and he knew that they were going to war.

His mother walked ahead of him as he kept staring toward the different mobile suits that had been recently constructed. Cagalli noticed her son's wandering gaze and thought it best not to explain everything to him and worry him. She could handle Uzumi going to war now but her youngest boy was too young to join the battles ahead.

The council had met that morning and they had decided to employ the military because of the threats the they had just begun receiving from ROW. Cagalli had announced to them that the STING had been defeated at the Clyne faction base from what she had heard but she knew that it was not to be trifled with. The council had looked at the images Lacus Clyne had sent to them begging for their assistance to combat the STING and they had voted to roll out their defensive military. Cagalli knew they could only do that much, they did not attack other nations and the only way they could join the Clyne faction in the war would be if the STING attacked them. She wondered if that was coming next and prayed that it would not.

The Minerva had been forced into hiding before ever getting out of Africa because ROW was not going to let it join them so she knew they would be down that strength. She had met with Murrue Ramius on the possibility of launching the Archangel but had decided that it better stay in ORB. The Tranquillity was heading to space along with a large part of the ORB fleet to protect the area of space over ORB.

Cagalli had been overwhelmed lately but there was a light to everything she was going through, her dear brother had returned to the battlefield. She had been very frightened when she heard Kira was captured by ORB but she had received a message from Lacus that he was back. She did not know all the details surrounding his return but she did know that he was safe and strong enough to fight alongside the Clyne Faction. Now that they had both Kira and Athrun they were a force to be reakoned with once again, though things would be better if they also had Shinn.

It seemed Yaro and Uzumi wanted to join the fight as well and she worried about them but she knew they were both old enough to make their own decisions. She did worry mainly about what Athrun had told her about Uzumi a week before; it seemed her oldest boy and the light of her life had been frightened by a darkness he was feeling growing in his mind and this brought bad memories into her mind. She remembered seeing the Strike and the Aegis completely destroyed on the beach of a small island and she remembered finding Athrun very weak and alone. She had thought Kira was dead and hours later when Athrun awoke she saw the darkness in his eyes. She had pointed a gun at him and it had magnified. She could still feel what he felt that day, sorrow and fear so deep that it was hard to ignore.

They were now right on the edge of the battlefield and she knew that it was not certain that they would all make it out alive but she prayed for the strength to stand through anything and for the strength of the people she loved that they would make it through this dark night.

* * *

Uzumi stood in the empty room remembering how it looked the last time he was here. Meiko Virea, the girl with so much confusion inside of her was gone now and he was not sure that it was forever. She had let him know everything about her life in his last visit by just a few words and her words had torn him apart from the moment he heard them on. He couldn't get his mind off everything she said. She was forced to choose between her friend in ROW and her new friends in ORB and she had chosen ROW right? He couldn't shake the feeling that she did not want to be part of ROW. He couldn't bring himself to tell anyone about her because he felt that somehow they were connected.

It was crazy how his mind was consumed with so much now. They were about to go to war. His mother had told him that it was almost certain that he would be allowed to fight alongside his family for ORB and with that the darkness continued to threaten him. There was something haunting him, a feeling he knew he couldn't shake as it had taken hold of him. He had thought that sharing the darkness with Meiko would help them both in driving away but their every moment together had made it increase.

He fought to remain strong knowing that everyone would need him to be strong in the coming storm. He was very afraid of it all but he knew that there was no place for fear on the battlefield. He had been fighting his entire life to be the best in a mobile suit and he knew that he had accomplished a lot in the past month. He had no reason to be afraid and he knew he had to have faith that everything would work out. He was always the strongest of the new generation and he knew he had to step into that role now. He strongly believed that though the dark and evil sometime seemed overwhelming that someway, somehow right and light always would win. His faith would not fade and he would not let the growing darkness stop him from being strong.

He walked out of the apartment and back toward his home with new found strength and though the darkness lingered on he fought to remain strong.

* * *

"ROW has decided not to punish you," Mike Shruste said, he sat next to Meiko on a small shuttle. They were in space now heading out with a large fleet to meet Liene at a certain point in space. The entire trip back from ROW Meiko had barely said two words together, her expression was blank and her eyes were darkened. He knew she was mad at him but he also knew that she was even more angry with herself now. She never let anyone else really take the blame for things, it was always her fault and he guessed she would always be that way.

"Fine," she said apathetically. Something was going on inside of her, he knew she was never like this around him. She never put on the mask when it was just the two of them because he was the closest thing she had to a father though he was not always there for her in everything she was forced to go through. He knew something happened to her in ORB that had everything to do with the reason she tried to lie and defy ROW. She was a mess when he picked her up but she closed up as soon as they were out of ORB. She was letting herself be numb to everything, he knew because he understood what it was to shut the emotions out. She was shutting the light out of her life fearing that it would shine on the truth of who she was and he feared what might happen to her. She was never meant to be in ROW and she should never have been forced into it but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Why did you do it?" he asked her trying to understand why it was that she defied Liene, "why did you lie?"

"Why did you let them take Trey?" she countered with anger in her eyes. So part of her did blame him.

"Trey's own actions let to his fate," Mike replied, "he defied Gilligan and it led to him being taken prisoner in ROW. It's not my fault or your fault that he is in his situation and it's not up to you what happens to him next, you do know that right? His fate is not in your hands and Liene won't keep him alive forever."

"No," Meiko responded holding her hands out, "Liene has honor in him for not killing Trey when I confessed the truth. Liene will not kill him as long as I remain loyal so that is what I will do." She then turned away from it making it clear she did not want to speak to him anymore. He knew she was changing and no matter how she tried to stop it she would not be able to escape it. It was a part of her, a destiny that she was not aware of. Meiko Virea was destined for so much more than ROW and Mike had waited eighteen years for her to find herself. He wondered if he could afford to wait longer, for the battlefield ahead was sure to be one full of tears.

He just waited for one thing now, for Meiko to fully decide who she was with. Would she lat hatred consume her or would she let the light inside of her break free?

* * *

"We have to maintain our strength," Kira said standing beside Lacus before the top leaders of the Clyne faction. They knew ROW would meet them in battle soon and they knew that it would be a reckoning unlike anything the world had seen in recent histroy. "ROW has that machine and I am sure it will be stronger next time we face it. Last time was still a test run for them and they will not repeat their mistakes."

"We have a plan and we have spoken to ORB about it since it is their country we are moving to protect," Lacus said stepping forward, "We need to take out the STING and we need to focus all our efforts on that."

"How exactly," Commander Amarfi spoke up looking a little skeptical, "That machine is attached to a giant warship defended by robotic mobile suits. They may have hundreds of those things in that machine! Plus the cannon looks very strong, almost invincible and we can't use nuclear weapons."

"Right," Lacus replied holding up a stack of papers, "We will not allow anyone in the Clyne faction to fire a nuclear missile at them esspecially since that would destroy anyone within a certain radius of the explosion. Here I have the plans for the STING given to Kira by the organizaiton known as Redemption. It is a machine that was constructed with a very strong metal alloy and it's fire power is based on some sort of anti nuclear weapon. If we were to fire any nuclear explosion at the ship it would be destrotyed but the effects could lead to a lot more lives lost from our side as well. We want to disarm it without destorying it for if we destroy it we might not make it out alive."

"What about this Redemption?" Waltfeld asked, he had heard the full story of how Kira was rescued by now as many of them had and he had a lot of questions about who they were. "If they have the same goals as us why don't the just join us?"

"I am not sure they have all the same goals as us," Kira replied, "when I was there I spoke to Yzak it seemed as though the organization wanted ROW defeated but they were after something else as well. I spoke to their leader as well, Milady Redemption has no intention of joining us in this battle and we can't count on them. If they come the great but we can't depend on it. We can only depend on our force and whatever force Cagalli chooses to send."

"So the we are studying these plans for a weakness," Lacus said laying them down on the table, "it will be the focus of all our technicians as we head to the battle site. We will not think of anything else now but disarming that weapon and not letting it destroy us. The PLANTs have decided to sit this one out ignoring the threat of ROW and now backing out of conflict with ORB. Though I wish I could figure out what in the world is going on in the PLANTs we have been completely shut out of that world and now all we have is hope that we can right this world and stop ROW."

* * *

"We are sending a small fleet to meet you at the coordinates over ORB," Cagalli said, she was on a transmission with Lacus about the battle they both knew was coming. After Lacus had escaped her brush with ROW she knew they would track her and she was sure they were going toward ORB. Everything fit together and Cagalli and the council together had agreed that now was not the time to worry about the PLANTs and their dispute with Lacus Clyne. She was willing to help them and they knew they would need all the help they could get.

"Good," Lacus replied, "We have our strategists and technicians working out a plan so the sooner they arrive the better."

"Your children want to be with the fleet we send," Cagalli said, "I have spoken to them and I have agreed to make the request to you. Leyas and Kiran wish to join the battle aboard the Tranquility and Yaro wants to pilot the Visage."

"I will allow it," Lacus replied knowing that she had no way to prevent it now. She knew it was hard for her to sit back and watch the war unfold when she was young which is why she had boarded the Eternal. She knew her kids would not sit quietly on earth and wait for news of how it went, they were too much like their parents and they would want a chance to help protect their world.

"I am sending Uzumi as well," Cagalli said with a hint of worry in her eyes, "but Jeffery and Kayla are staying here with me. I wish I could join you all but you understand that there are a lot of political things we are still working out. The PLANTs have stopped putting pressure on us but they refuse to stop sending us messages. I think we are making it clear now that we side with you and I don't think they will take that lightly. But we have no choice now and the world will understand once they realize we are fighting ROW together. You just have to take down that weapon!" Lacus understood everything Cagalli was saying. They had both worked to hard to keep this world in peace to back down now and they would stand together on this now. ROW's recent attacks had changed everything.

"What about the Minerva?" Lacus asked curious about the state of the ship, "Has it returned yet? We need Shinn to join Athrun and Kira this time, that ship will be a handful."

"That will not be possible," Cagalli said heavily, "They are still trapped somewhere, I don't know where now but it seems ROW is determined to keep them out of the battle. They have been pushed back to many times and Shinn has gotten really frustrated but so far he is keeping his cool. The last thing we need is his cocky temper to get out of control because he needs to focus on protecting the Minerva now."

"Right," Lacus knew how Shinn could be.

_"I can't go anymore," Lacus said breathing hard. Shinn still had hold of her arm and now they were in cover in one of the deserted homes. Shinn quickly reloaded his gun looking more and more frustrated as every second passed._

_"Lacus we can't stay here," Shinn said urgently getting angry now, "You have to try now, we have to keep going! Athrun won't be able to hold them off forever!"_

_"Then just leave me," she said stubbornly feeling the weight of her baby now. She was pregnant and she was getting to weak to continue running from whoever these people were. Of course Shinn did not know what was going on so he did not understand, all he saw was a girl who was weak an uable to enure running anymore._

_"I'm not leaving you now come on," he said pulling her up and forcing her to continue running. He was angry with her she could tell and he was loosing control of his patience. She wished Athrun had taken her instead of him._

It was after their quick escape from the attack on Girbaltar in which Kira had been captured. They had been out in the middle of nowhere trying to find help. They had entered an isolated trading village in which there were a few abandoned houses and there and that was where many of the terrorists agents had caught up with them. Lacus had almost fainted in the open from how sick she was getting and Athrun had ordered Shinn to run with her. They almost made it out of danger but Lacus was to weak for them to keep going all the way. She hadn't eaten in two days and she was pregnant so she almost collapsed again and the terrorists had guns on them before the knew it. Luckily Lunamaria and some aid from ORB had arrived just in time to rescue them. But in the moment where she had almost lost it Lacus witnessed Shinn's temper and he did almost get them killed because if it.

"Well we have to hope that everything goes according to plan," Lacus said to Cagalli breaking for her memory, "We are getting ready to face ROW and we don't know if we will succeed but we do know we have to try."

"Right," Cagalli said, "I will be praying that you all make it through alright." Somehow she had the feeling that something was going to go wrong. A feeling in Cagalli's mind told her that there were dark things at work now. She knew that the odds were not all the people she loved would make it out alive and this feeling was enough to drive her mad. All she could do now was wait until everything was over.

* * *

Athrun stood there before her. The Children had just boarded the Tranquility and now the fleet waited for him. Cagalli stood there before him with her beatiful blonde hair blowing in ORB's wind. He smiled at her knowing that he would return to her. He held her hands tightly not wanting to let go, not wanting to leave her behind though he knew there were enough defense forces to keep her safe. He would sleep easier with her by his side but that could not be. They were forced to part for this time.

"I just have one thing I have to ask you," Cagalli said looking into his beautiful emerald eyes, "Promise me you'll come back in one peice?"

"I promise," Athrun replied kissing her. They both momentarily were lost in the passion they shared for each other but they knew the kiss had to end so they broke apart. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"I love you," she said as tears flowed from her eyes.

"I love you to," Athrun said letting go and lingering a moment longer. He wiped a tear from her face and said, "I will return!"

As his ship flew away Cagalli watched with tears streaming down her face, "I know you will." She whispered over and over.

* * *

"So we are joining the battles ahead," Yaro said. Him and Uzumi both sat in a room in the Tranquility staring out into space. Neither of them spoke of the girl that they had not seen in a few days. Neither of them knew the other knew about who she was and neither of them wanted to think about the darkness and sorrow that the saw inside of her. Yaro was having trouble with the idea that he might face her as an enemy and Uzumi knew he would not stand a chance against her. Neither of them knew they had faced her before.

"We will return Yaro," Uzumi said looking out the window as the ship shot toward space, "I have faith that right will win and we will make it out of this."

"I know," Yaro replied, "and I am happy with the progress I made though the last month in mobile suit training. I believe that we will be much better than last time."

"You mean you will be much better than last time," Uzumi said with a slight laugh, "I won't have to constantly rescue you from everything."

"Right," Yaro said with a laugh thinking of the last battles he participated in, "I was pretty bad wasn't I?"

"You were terrible," they heard Kiran say from the other side of the room where he sat with some of the younger recruits from the academy where he had taking classes on warships. One in particular was a girl name Alicesia whom Kiran seemed to know very well. The two had been insperable since they had boarded the ship. Leyas also sat in the large room staring out a different window than Yaro and Uzumi. She dreamed of the PLANTs wishing she could go there now and free her people from the ignorance they were now kept under.

"I know," Yaro responded, "but you would not have done any better."

"I know," Kiran said turning away from them.

They were all young, everyone in the room. Cadets from ORB's academies and the children of the leaders of the assult. They now sat tight preparing for one of the biggest battles of their lives glacing at each other in sadness for they did not know which of them would make it out alive if any of them.

* * *

She stood before him after having been through hell again. She had been taken from ORB to return to the battlefield and she had resigned herself to her fate, they would be attacking more innocent nations soon. ORB had just been one experience for her and she forced herself to try and forget the events that had just taken place. She had not just gained two friends only to turn her back on them, it was all a misson that she was forced into. Being back in space had brought her to a place of numbness that she welcomed for she no longer wanted to feel anything. She was like a robot living to serve her master and not living to think freely. This was who she had to be to survive. Her wishes, wants and desires meant nothing to anyone and as such they did not deserve to exist so she had silenced them.

Liene had just suffered a setback with the escape of the majority of the Clyne faction and the return of Kira Yamato. She knew Liene saw her as the only warrior her had that could fight Kira and as such she knew she would be forced to face him soon. Her head was in control of her heart now and she would not fail on her next mission like she had on her last.

Liene watched as his perfect warrior returned, she had just returned and in a way space and the ROW ship had somehow 'reset' her mind. Gone were her emotions again replaced by a heartless and cold expression. Liene knew she was forcing it because she hated feeling the pain in her own heart but while in that mindset he knew that she would obey his orders. He was very angry at what had taken place against the Clyne faction and he knew he needed Meiko to fight the force that they would send to protect ORB.

"What is your mission Meiko?" he asked her wondering if there was any defiance left in her.

"To serve ROW with every breath I take," she replied coldly.

"And what of the friends you made back on earth?" he asked presenting her with the only thing he could to truly test her, "if they tried to destroy ROW what would you do to them?" This question took her aback but she knew it couldn't be possible that they would face her so she gave Liene the answer he wanted.

"I would shoot them down," she replied knowing that in that situation things would be unpredictable. Away from Yaro and Uzumi it was easier to be ROW's robot warrior but she knew her heart would react to fighting them and she might be unable to do it. She wanted to break free but she knew that ROW had a hold on her that she better not resist.

"Are you sure?" Liene asked looking deep into her eyes and seeing some of the confusion in her soul.

"Yes," she replied dryly. They both knew that this was probably not true but Liene also knew what he had to do to ensure she stayed his forever. He signaled for one of the technicians to open the large doors and slowly they revealed a large Gundam, more threatening looking than anything Meiko had ever seen before. It was designed with her colors, green and black and she instantly knew it was hers.

"The new improved model of the Pain Gundam," Liene said clearly enamored by the machine before them, "designed by our top technicians and outfitted with the greatest mobile suit system that has ever existed. You Meiko will lead the world to a greater tomorrow from this machine because all ROW wants is to bring an everlasting peace to this world. To end all pain and suffering that exists and to create a tomorrow where no one has to cry. You may have forgotten those goals when you were on earth but you will be reminded every second that you are here that we want to end it all. Isn't that what you want as well?"

"Yes," she replied a little confused. She had heard this all her life yet she had never been able to really believe it. Yet here it was laid before her again, ROW was created to restore the world and create a lasting peace. If this was the case then why had they taken the world from peace and plunged it into turmoil? She then turned to her machine, it was all happening again. It was her mission to inflict the healing pain that would bring life into this world. If her life had a meaning and purpose then why did she feel so hollow and empty when she was alone? How could she be so easily numb to everything including herself? Would she be able to face this again or was she bound to loose the battle? No, she could not think like that. She was Meiko Virea, ROW's warrior and the greatest mobile suit pilot in the world. No one could stand up to her and she would do as she was told, just like every time before. She would fight.

* * *

They floated from the shuttle into the large hangar of the Eternal and saw the two machines standing before them, the Visage and the Journey. The two cousins would once again be fighting for the lives of the people they loved.

"Though I would prefer you both to be out of the battlefield I know how it is it be helpless," Lacus Clyne said as she approached the two. She gave her eldest son a hug and smiled at her Nephew, "These two machines have been improved to fit your fighting styles and you will find that they will be easier to pilot but the battle you are about to face will be much harder than the last one."

"I have confidence in you two," they both knew that voice and they turned to see Kira Yamato entering. Yaro knew he was back but seeing his father again for the first time in months was overwhelming. Kira approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I am sorry that I wasn't there for you when you needed me but I will be fighting along side you now."

"Father," Yaro said giving his father a hug feeling like a child again needing his dad to comfort him about everything he had gone through with Meiko and everything he was about to go through in space. Kira smiled at his son with faith hoping to give him strength.

"I am here now Yaro," Kira said, "and I will be with you out there. We will fight for the future because we believe in it."

* * *

"Do you think we will make it out alive?" Kiran turned to ask Alicesia. He had been surprised when he had found out that she was joining them in space but he was happy to hve her company. They had become really good friends on earth and it seemed her father was a politician in ORB so she had gotten a promotion in school and was eligible to fight for ORB. Because of this she pushed to be allowed to join the force combating ROW. Kiran had known she was talented at anything that had to do with the military and she had helped him along in classes quite a bit.

"Yes," Alicesia said with perfect confidence, "Its always better to be positive about things than negative. I have found that if you expect to die you will and if you expect to live well you might. Not completely reassuring I know but it's better to be optimistic."

"I know," Kiran said and she smiled as agreement, "for even when things are very bad there is always a way for them to get better." They were both a part of the Tranquility crew now and as such they would witness the whole battle. They would watching the fight unfold but they would be helping in the best way they could and they knew that that was all they could do.

* * *

"Everything is about to begin," Milady said to Yzak as they stood before space again, "ORB has just joined the Clyne faction in space and now ROW will come. Liene will not be able to resist two of his enemies banding together. The reckoning is soon."

"And we will just sit back and watch?" Yzak replied.

"We will sit back and wait," Milady looked out thinking of everything she was about to see, "to wait for the warrior's redemption."

* * *

"I can't feel," she spoke softly to herself standing in front of her machine, "I'm not mine." Her words echoed the mindset she knew she had to have because she knew that she was forever here a prisoner because of her own actions. And if she could not bring herself to feel anything she would be hollow and broken. IF she could not feel then she wasn't real anymore, just a shadow of a human being.

"I'm not real," she barely whispered to herself, "I'm not real." Her eyes were dry now as her soul was frozen, she knew the end of everything was near.

Ashy violet eyes stared out the glass in front of them seeing no reflection there anymore, just hollow nothing. Her world was something that people had always controlled and now she knew it would always be that way. She had tried to make decisions on her own and she had failed. She stared into the blackness of space apathetically as she had in the past but this time she saw no beauty in it, just black emptiness with a few bright stars. In her life the stars had always shone for someone other than herself and they were no longer a source of hope. She had no clue who she was or what she was but she knew she did not belong here. She was smothered in an environment where she was not even human and she knew now that it was her own choice. She put a hand up to the glass as traced the stars thinking of the lives that she had taken and the lives she was about to take.

Meiko breathed a sigh and turned around not wanting to see the lonely stars anymore for their strength mocked her and light of hope was leaving her life. For some reason the hope did not completely burn out, a slight flame still burned in her soul but for how long? Things were getting darker and darker and though she wanted the hope to just leave her be it stuck with her like a constant companion. Her thoughts turned to wondering about Uzumi and Yaro, wondering if they were safe for she had seen bright lights of hope in their lives. She envied them in their freedom but most of all she missed how for the first time in her life she felt free with them. The small light of hope in her longed for that freedom.

Now she turned around to face the things she had run from. The Pain lingered as her mobile suit and she knew it was her duty to use her machine to change the world. Now it was time to surrender again to everything she knew she was. She could not escape the darkness of her own past and longing for redemption would only lead her to more pain. Redemption was a fantasy that she could never have.

The battle was coming and she knew it was impossible to wish it all away.

"I'm not real," she whispered one last time, "I can't feel, I'm not mine, I'm not real."

* * *

**Two chapters from something really really big.**

**Next chatper is all battle I think so it might be shorter but it's very important. ROW vs. our heros and ROW has the advantage this time with the Pain and an invincible warship.**

**I can't believe I am at this point, when I first began the story I thought I'd never get here!**

**I have started a twitter account where you can keep tabs on where I am in writing a chapter. I will also be posting pieces of information on music that inspires me in writing and things like that. I actually have a whole soundtrack of songs for this series and I will slowly be posting what songs I love for it there. But mostly I will use the twitter to relay information on my progress and write small slightly spoilerly statments.**

**So it is at **twitter (dot) com / Lynnbrooke **please follow me and enjoy the updates.**

**This chapter was done much faster than I expected and I am sure you were excited about it. So here you go! ENJOY!**

**Please REVIEW REVEIW! It was your reviews that made me get this done so quickly!**

**-WinterChill  
**


	18. Battle In Space

**Preview: The Clyne faction and ORB have finally joined forces resisting the pressure from the PLANTs to fight ROW's new warship the STING. Yaro and Uzumi are set to board their mobile suits again. The Minerva is still far away from ORB trying to get out of ROW territory. The Archangel stayed in ORB to defend Cagalli should ROW attack there. Athrun and Kira are set to board their mobile suits again to join the fight. Kiran and his friend Alicesia are aboard the Tranquility. Leyas transfered to the Eternal. Cagalli watches from the ground. Meiko has given into ROW because of Trey and she is now ready to fight for them again, but how long will this last?**

**Battles are not my strong point so I am a bit concerned about this... Here I go**

**Survivor18 - I tried emailing the pictures to you but they all got sent back saying that the email address you gave me did not exist.  
**

Phase 17 - Battle In Space

* * *

She sat alone on a bench near the back of the Eternal thinking about how the world was going. It was not like her to feel so out of it about anything but today for some reason she had a growing sense of dread. Leyas was crying. The battlefield was now set and the forces of the Clyne faction sat over ORB protecting it and waiting for ROW. The ORB forces had moved away hoping to give a slight element of surprise and with them went Yaro and Uzumi who had both transferred to the Tranquility. She knew that the battle ahead would be hard to watch but strength was always something she was good at. She was going to fight for now but she felt that she did not belong on the battlefield

"I thought I'd find you here," she turned to see her dad standing a few feet away from where she sat. When she had seen him for the first time on this ship she could not look at him for more than a second and she ran away. He left them when they needed him most and Leyas found it hard to see him again. Tears filled her eyes now seeing him there. She quickly jumped up and threw her arms around him letting herself cry.

Kira held his eldest daughter comforting her, thinking about all the times when she had been in the same position she was now, simply seeking the comfort of her daddy.

"It was awful," she finally said, "daddy, I didn't know what to do! I was so scared." She had gone through a lot in escaping the PLANTS and she had not let anyone know of the fear and doubt that she was facing. Leyas always wanted to seem strong like her parents but Kira knew that inside she was just like him, very soft and very easy to wound. In his first battles he had faced so much and he had cried alone for a very long time. He had sworn that his children would never have to cry alone but when he was gone he could do nothing about their fears.

"I know Leyas," he said, "but I'm here now and I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you. It's going to be okay."

"Daddy," she said letting go of him, "I'm sorry, I couldn't face it all in front of all those people. I just wanted to run to you but I didn't want them all to see me cry." She wiped a few tears from her eyes. He knew exactly what she was saying, she was Leyas Yamato after all.

"It's alright Leyas," he replied putting a hand on your shoulder, "your mother used to tell me that it was okay to cry and when things get hard sometimes it's all you can do. Right now we are going to be entering a battle where we all need to be ready for anything so let all those tears out now while you have the chance." She nodded hugging her father again knowing that as long as he was there she felt safe.

* * *

Liene sat and watched as a large fleet of ROW agents gathered around the STING. He knew that his force would be met by the Clyne faction and by ORB and he was counting on them all being there for the unveiling of the full power of the STING.

The laser cannon was more effective to him than any other large cannon in their history. It was powered by crystals he had mined on Mars; crystals with incredible power that he had been able to harness. The only problem with these crystals is that they were destroyed every time one was used to fire the machine. This was his problem in the battle against the Clyne faction before. A mistake he was not willing to repeat. He now had a stock of ten crystals as they took a while to prepare. He could fire them one after another or he could spread them out. He was going to use them to his advantage.

The second thing he was relying on was the brute force of his robotic units. They were all programed to target anything that did not have a certain ROW code and as such they existed to destroy. By eliminating the human factor in the mobile suit he had created warriors that had no feelings and that could not be tossed and turned by anyone. Another thing about these machines were their large numbers. He had been able to mass produce so many of them that he had a massive army. Their sheer numbers alone and their lack of feelings would make them very hard for the Clyne faction to deal with. Among those forces he also had his skilled ROW agents. He knew it would be hard on Lacus's pilots to be constantly switching between the two adversaries. On one hand they could fight brutally against the robots and destroy them and on the other hand they would dance around his agents and try to preserve life by disarming them in which case they could pilot for him again another day.

His final card was one he was reluctant to lean on, Meiko Virea. Her mobile suit ability was sure to win them the battlefield if he could keep control of her. He wished he had gotten the chance to test the new mobile suit system on her but there was no time. He would be leaning on that system if she let her emotions take control and as he did not know if it would work he was a bit nervous about using it.

The Hatred was being piloted by Jurme Krey this time around as Trey Likra Day was still just a prisoner. Liene had been trying to convince the boy of the error of his ways because he was such a valuable pilot and because his influence on Meiko was considerable. If Trey was fully committed to ROW Meiko would be the other way around was a little bit more tricky. Trey was not committed to ROW yet now Meiko was because of fear. So Liene repeatedly spoke to Trey but the boy would not budge. It reminded Liene to much of someone he knew in the past and he was tired of defecting agents.

He sat back watching space go by feeling the battlefield getting nearer and nearer. This day would belong to him and he would make sure to destroy the forces of the enemy.

* * *

As ROW appeared on the horizon the members of the Clyne faction held onto their courage at the size of the force that had been sent. The STING sat proudly in the center of an arrangement of ships that were spread out to make their numbers seem larger. Lacus had broadcasted to her entire fleet strengthening them right before ROW arrived and everyone worked hard to hold onto that strength.

"The enemy fighting strength is twelve ROW standard ships, three mobile suit carriers, seven fighter ships, the Predjudice and the STING!" Kiran declared letting the Tranquility know what was happening there. He had just received a message from Leyas, as of now the ORB forces held back not wanting to expose the alliance between them and the Clyne faction until the battle started. If they fought with Lacus from the beginning then it would be obvious that they were working together but if ORB arrived a little late it might seem as if they are trying to break up the conflict. Everyone knew it was not a full proof plan but it was all they could come up with on such a short notice.

"How did they have a force that big?" Alicesia asked Kiran, she was just beginning to have confidence in the battle when they appeared and shattered it all. The ORB fleet that had been sent was pretty small, seven ships and the Tranquility. It was because the council thought it was too dangerous to send off their full strength. The Clyne faction had sent ten ships, the other six in their group had rushed to the emergency base with the plans for new weapons and things like that.

"Remember ROW has control of a few nations," Athrun said, he stood next to the Captain's seat which was occupied by Ayren Saith, one of the most capable commanders in the ORB military.

"Do you think they have control of the nation's militaries?" Ayren asked.

"Yes," Athrun replied, "The Minerva has been unable to move because there are ROW ships crawling around the Southern Hemisphere. Here we are facing a large force but there are more down there." Kiran gulped and looked back toward the information again. 24 ships with who knows how many mobile suits vs eighteen ships and a limited number of good pilots.

* * *

"We have sighted them," a crew member said, "ten Clyne faction ships, no ORB vessels."

"They will come," Liene said with a smile turning around, "but it will not be enough. Send out the Pain!"

* * *

"Loading Pain into launch catapult, preparing launch sequence."

It was about to begin for her, another battle against people she did not hate. Meiko Virea sat back waiting for the launch sequence to be complete as she numbly resolved herself to destroy as many machines as she could. She would simply forget that there were people piloting them and treat them like ROW's new robotic units.

"Meiko Virea," she said lifting her head, "Pain launching." Her mobile suit shot out to space and she saw the Clyne faction mobile suits launching. It was time.

* * *

"We are picking up Robotic units and ROW standard suits," Leyas said alerting her mother as the battle began and mobile suits began fighting each other, "wait, there is one more signal! The Pain has launched!" Everyone on the bridge nearly jumped at those words.

None of them could forget the last time they faced the Pain in battle.

"It seems the pain has been upgraded," another bridge memeber said, "and it's coming toward us!" Lacus watched as the Pain weaved through her forces like they weren't even there. That mobile suit was much stronger than she had remembered.

"Order all mobile suit teams to stick to the main plan," Lacus responded, "don't let them get distracted! Launch the Freedom!"

"Stay on course," Leyas repeated the instructions then she she switched her radio and saw her father's face, "it's your turn now, launch Freedom!"

"This is Kira Yamato,Freedom launching," he said. Everyone on the bridge had missed that sound and now that it had returned they were more hopeful than ever. Leyas looked out to see her father's mobile suit quickly entering the battle and she felt safe for she knew he would protect them.

* * *

Meiko finished off the mobile suit she had just attacked feeling on fire today. Anger tore through her about ROW and she took it out on everything around her. If she could not have the life she wanted she would make people fear who she was. She quickly engaged another mobile suit moving so fast the other pilot did not know what was happening. She jumped away from the explosion and brandished her weapons scaring a lot of the other enemy troops. No one could stop her now.

"Meiko don't waste your time with them, Jurme is launching in the Hatred for that," Liene said contacting her suit. He almost smiled when he saw the resolve on her face, "The Freedom had launched Meiko, now prove your worth and destroy that machine."

"Rodger," she said feeling the rush of the battle come over her. She quickly scanned the area and saw the Freedom fighting a ROW standard unit. In no time the unit was completely disarmed. She slammed the controls of her mobile suit ignoring all the fire around her and quickly rushing to that mobile suit. The Freedom was taken off guard as she fired the two new arm cannons she had into it's back and flipped over it firing a couple more guns. "Take me on!" She yelled.

Instantly she was in the battle with the Freedom and she knew they were perfectly matched. He launched his dragoons and she dodged all of the fire at once.

* * *

Kira gritted his teeth as he realized this pilot was not going to let him disarm the mobile suit. He had never fought anyone who moved like this, the Pain was quick, much faster than anything he had ever seen and it seemed to rely on that speed to fight. The pilot was also exceptional moving the mobile suit so naturally as if this was no more than a game. Kira stayed alert dodging the other units attacks and then he pulled out his beam sabers and went in for close combat keeping his dragoons aimed at the unit in front of him.

The pain me his attach with no hesitation falling into his trap, he slammed his beam saber pinning the unit down then fired two built in cannons and his Dragoons. The Pain was hit but the mobile suit jumped back before all the firepower could get to it. The machine appeared undamaged by his attack. Who was this pilot?

* * *

"All remaining mobile suit teams launch," Leyas said relaying the instructions she was getting, "ORB forces send the Visage and the Journey. The Lacuna and The Arete move in on the sides. Fire on those robotic units! Clyne faction move in!"

"Kira has engaged the Pain," another bridge member said, "neither of them seem to be able to gain ground against each other."

"Send backup units," Lacus said, "we need to take that machine down before it is able to cause any more damage." Leyas nodded relaying that information to a couple of units. ROW had launched a few human mobile suit teams along with the robotic units and they were overwhelming Lacus's mobile suit forces. Leyas held on knowing ORB's eight ships would be there soon but it was hard to watch the battle ufold in this way.

* * *

"Okay boys the ORB forces are still not moving in but Lacus has requested we send you two," Athrun said from the bridge alerting Yaro and Uzumi, "we are sending you both with G4 booster packs which have been modified. You can fire with them now. Go and top speed it's taking place about a mile away."

"Rodger," both of the boys said preparing for launch. Yaro held his breath as his mobile suit was thrown into space, it was about to begin for him. He had wanted to fight for so long and now that he was here he was a little afraid. His mind turned to Meiko wondering where she was now and if by chance she was participating in this battle. She was an agent of ROW and an incredible mobile suit pilot. The odds of her being there were very high and if she was there Yaro knew that he would not be able to really fight her.

"Yaro let's go," he heard Uzumi's voice and saw the Journey flying toward the battlefield. He slammed his engines and followed.

* * *

Kayla stared up at the night sky and saw the bright lights of battle overhead. It was exactly as her mother had predicted, ROW was headed toward ORB. Her mother's pink Haro bounced beind her and Kayla wondered if anything bad had happened yet.

"Beneath the veil of starry skies," Kayla began to sing her mothers song trying to hold onto the peace it would offer her, "as cold as winters darkest night. It's there you sleep, silent and deep, you're all alone. I sing the prayers soft melody, across the lonely silent fields. A little light began to shine, it shines on and on. I watched you as you so peacefully dreamed, you laughed like a child happy and carefree. It's so familiar and yet so far that's the future is promised for you and me. One day on a green and shining morn, one day we will finally make it though, cause in this sky so dark with winter we still have to believe that it's true. Fields of hope."

"That is beautiful Kayla," she heard her aunt Cagalli enter the room and she turned around to face her.

"The battle's begun," Kayla said pointing into space and Cagalli nodded, "Oh, Aunt Cagalli I just have this feeling something awful is going to happen."

"I know," Cagalli said stepping forward to stand next to the girl to see into the battle above them, "The night has just begun and I wonder if there will be anyone left standing when the morning comes."

"I could write a song with that," Kayla said with a slight smile.

_The night has just begun_

_With darkness all around_

_I wonder if somehow_

_There will be Anyone left standing _

_When the morning comes_

_Hold on to truth_

_Hold on to peace_

_The light will come_

_So just hold on_

_The night has just begun_

Cagalli felt tears enter her eyes as the young girl sang the few verses that had just come to her mind. It was hard for them both to just wait down here for something to happen. Kayla then began singing another song and Cagalli was comforted by the voice of her youngest niece as they sat there beneath the stars together._  
_

* * *

Uzumi entered the battlefield with a bang attacking a robotic unit and saving a Clyne faction machine. He smiled as he took the unit out, today he would be strong and he would not let the darkness hold him back. He attacked another robotic unit and then realized why they were such a problem. The machine attacked over and over again without feeling, strategy or care. Uzumi maneuvered around it seeking to find it's weak points. It took hi longer than he expected to lay down fire power enough to disarm it He then worked to destory it finding a weak point in the back he jabbed his beam saber into it them lept back to avoid the explosion.

The battle raged around him and he turned just in time to see the Hatred moving toward him. He dodged the machine's attacks and laid down his own. The machine moved differently than it had before as if it had a different pilot.

"You're not going to win this," Uzumi yelled as he entered a fight with that terrible machine. It had been upgraded but so had the Journey. The pilot had gotten more than he bargained for with Uzumi.

* * *

Yaro fought a robotic unit and was very annoyed with the machines brainless methods of fighting. This time Yaro was not slow and he was not a bad pilot anymore. His training in ORB had prepared him for this battle and he knew he could not afford to loose to anyone. He heard his sensors and turned to see another robotic unit behind him. He quickly moved and the units shots hit the unit he had been fighting, destroying it since it had been weakened by Yaro's attacks. Yaro quickly moved to try and get behind it because it's weak points were all in the back. His machine was hit by the robotic unit but not damaged. Yaro flipped over the machine and it followed him so he opened his booster pack and fired four missiles into it. As they exploded the machine was destroyed and Yaro turned to scan the battlefield.

Uzumi was fighting the Hatred and he seemed to be doing pretty well in the battle so Yaro flew about aiding other Clyne faction machines until he saw the Freedom fighting in a battle and gaining now ground. The machine he was fighting was clear to Yaro, an upgraded version of the Pain Gundam. H He watched the battle for a few seconds and his mind began to feel an odd feeling as if he knew the pilot. Suddenly everything hit him at once, Meiko in ROW and the fighting style of that mobile suit. He had been fighting her along.

He knew she felt him there as well because for a moment her mobile suit moved differently and white light enveloped him.

_She floated before him just as beautiful as ever staring back and him. They saw each other and they knew that fate was now laughing at them. They were both on the same battlefield once again and they were now enemies._

_"Meiko you don't want this," Yaro said trying to reach out to her, "You don't want to do this, you don't want to fight us."_

_"Yaro," she said as tears filled her eyes, "I have no choice."_

_"No Meiko," he yelled, "don't!"_

The white light faded and Yaro saw the battlefield again. Meiko was fighting his father and trying her best to destroy him. Yaro had to get over there, he had to stop them._  
_

* * *

Kira noticed the machine before him falter for a second as if something was effecting the pilot and he took the slight opening to blast the side machine with one of his cannons. The machine took a little damage but the pilot quickly whipped back into the fast fighting style. It was very odd, even in close combat the pilot used the main engines on his or her machine to move and to move very quickly. Kira had never seen anything like it before, it was as if this pilot knew everything about what his or her gundam could take.

He mimicked her moves trying to understand the pilots weak points and he attacked accordingly. The Pain dodged his attacks again and fired at Kira with two shoulder cannons. If he did not defeat this unit soon he would not be able to proceed with Lacus's battle plan. He moved faster trying to fight off the machine before him to no avail.

* * *

"ORB forces move out!" Athrun ordered as he launched in the Infinite Justice leading the eight ships into the battle. Lacus Clynes plan had now progressed to it's next stage, her units were moving forward and ORB would join them.

Athrun rushed to the battlefield as his forces followed.

* * *

"Sir the Infinite Justice has arrived leading the ORB forces," a bridge member told Liene as he sat on a ship near the STING.

"Good," Liene said with a laugh, everything was going as he predicted. Meiko was holding Kira Yamato down while Uzumi Zala was fighting Jurme Krey. Now all that remained was to get Athrun lost in an unwinnable battle. "Send out the Prototypes." Those three Gundam machines were surely enough to do the job, their pilots had been trained from a young age for this moment.

* * *

Athrun soared through the battlefield fighting robotic units and finding the units altogether to easy, what was it that ROW had coming next. He then saw them, three brightly painted Gudam units all coming toward him.

"For ORB!" Athrun yelled as he attacked the three units. They danced around him but he stayed alert dodging their attacks and fighting them back.

* * *

Kira fought the machine finally gaining some progress as the pilot seemed to falter at something. Kira laid down attacks fast and heavy trying to pin the machine down so that it could not just speed away again. As he targeted all the points he could he prepared to fire when suddenly the Visage jumped in his way.

"YARO!" Kira yelled feeling a little angry. It was heard on all channels. Meiko looked up at the sound of his name.

"Father I'm sorry," Yaro responded, "but she's my friend, she doesn't want this she's being forced to fight! We have to help her dad, please believe me!" Kira listened to his son's desperate cries and remembered fighting Athrun in the first bloody valentine war, they had no choice bak them they were enemies. Somehow Yaro knew this girl and he clearly cared about her so who was Kira to stand in his way? He lowered his guns as the Pain faltered at the sight of the Visage.

"You take her Yaro," Kira replied, "save her." With that he took the opportunity to get out of there. He had to continue with Lacus's plan which had been stalled while he was with the Pain. Kira breathed out heavily, that battle with the Pain had been hard on him. He had never faced an enemy like that and he did not think he ever would again.

He looked back one more time to see the Visage and Pain just facing each other not fighting and he wondered how it would turn out. Would the two be forced to endure the pain he and Athrun had or would Meiko leave ROW.

* * *

"I don't want to fight you," Yaro said contacting Meiko as she let tears flow from her eyes, "Just come with me, leave ROW behind." The Pain attacked knowing that she would have to fight or Liene would hurt Trey.

"I can't Yaro," she responded and he heard the breaking of her voice and knew this was hard for her, "I can't they won't let me go! Please just don't fight me! Please Yaro leave the battlefield get out of here and go someplace safe." He heard her begging him and it drove him on more, she was too important to him now to loose her. They fought each other slowly both defending and not really trying to hurt the other.

"I'm not giving up on you Meiko," Yaro yelled into the microphone, "I never will no matter what you say, no matter what you do."

"You don't know the half of what I've done Yaro or you wouldn't say that," she replied, "I am a killer, a monster who can do nothing else but fight."

"I don't believe that!" Yaro yelled, "You warned me and you are not trying to kill me now. Look into yourself Meiko there is a light in you and you can try to deny that but it will always be there keeping you from ever really being part of ROW." She stopped and he stopped. They both just stared suspended in space. She felt more tears come from her eyes, he really believed in her and he was willing to put himself in this much danger for her. No one had ever told her this before. She was always called a monster, always called evil yet here and now she was called good. He saw a light in her she did not believe in. She moved to attack again with no heart in her moves and Yaro knew he was getting through to her.

"Come on Meiko you can see it to," he said, "the light, it's in you now. You don't want this and you don't have to be this anymore."

* * *

Uzumi kicked the machine in front of him and pulled out his beam saber. Th Hatred also pulled out it's beam saber blocking Uzumi's attempt to slice into it.

"This ends today!" Uzumi said pulling out a beam knife and sticking it into the arm of the mobile suit. There was a small explosion but it was not enough to completely get rid of the arm. Uzumi could tell the pilot was getting angry as the unit slashed at him faster and with more strength. As Uzumi felt the machine coming on him some thing exploded in the back of his mind.

Uzumi looked up with his mind completely cleared and his goal acknowledged. He would defeat this unit.

* * *

"Come on Meiko just give into it," Yaro said calling out to her again as she fought him. She was having trouble with all this, she knew Liene was watching her every move and she couldn't just stop. Trey's life was in the balance. She could either kill Yaro or let Trey die and she didn't want either to happen.

"Please Yaro retreat," she begged, "i don't want to hurt you!"

"I know Meiko which is why you can't do this anymore," he said, "you are not this! Come on Meiko! Come with me where you'll never have to fight again." She stopped once again thinking of his words. There was no place in the world she could be where she would not have to fight. Liene had sent the world into war and ORB was no longer going to be a safe place for anyone. Any choice she made could not end her pain.

"Yaro please," she begged one more time, "don't make me fight you! I can't fight you and if I don't fight Trey will die."

"Why do you let them control you!" Yaro yelled throwing his anger into the movements of his mobile suit and attacking you, "Why don't you just be free of it all!"

"I CAN"T!" She yelled. At that something exploded in the back of his mind and he blocked her moves fighting her back stronger than he had ever been able to. She fought to maintain her defensive position but he was clearly fighting her now.

"You can!" he yelled at her, "And if you don't break free, I'll force you to!"

* * *

"Sir the Pain is now fighting the Visage and it seems the Freedom is still alright and it's going for the mobile suit carriers." Liene frowned at the news, What was Meiko doing out here? How could she just let the Freedom escape and how had she not just taken down the Visage.

"Gilligan take over," Liene said handing command over, "Mike Shurste come with me. And Gilligan feel free to fire the STING." Mike followed Liene as they both moved quickly down the halls of the ROW flagship. Mike wondered what Liene was planning now, he was clearly angry with the situation Meiko was in. Mike knew Meiko was probably fighting one of the boys she had met in ORB and that alone was significant. If she was fighting one of them she was probably fighting herself to do so. What move would Liene make to stop her from defecting. Liene let Mike to a part of the ship he had never been in and he watched in awe as Liene sat down at a machine that looked like the cockpit of a mobile suit. From it Liene could see everything the Pain was doing from several angles and even from the view point of the Pain.

"What is this?" Mike asked.

"The S-System was designed to keep Meiko from sitting a battle out," Liene said with a grin, "if she won't fight the enemy for some reason then she will be forced to fight them." Liene watched Meiko's every move and as she fought now he waited to see if she would falter and if she did then he would be right there to force her to keep going.

* * *

Kira led a group of Clyne faction mobile suits toward ROW's three mobile suit carriers, he would not allow them to launch anything else. He saw a group of robotic units coming toward them and he quickly targeted them all with is targeting computer sending out more blasts than had ever been seen before. All the units were taken out at the firepower he let out and their path to the carriers was clear.

"Take down those ships," Kira ordered the commander of the unit, "i'm going for the STING."

"Rodger," the commander said, after Kira had cleared the for them he was sure they could take on the task without him. Kira flew toward the STING wondering why it had not fired yet.

"Think you can take it down alone," he heard Dearka Elsman's voice over his radio.

"I could use an extra mobile suit," Kira laughed, "Just follow my head. They headed toward the massive ship dodging the ships weapons and going toward the large hangars.

* * *

Meiko fought off Yaro trying to keep him back when she felt something trying to invade her mind. She cried out and then saw something. A flash, a man getting ready to fire it. She could not let this happen any more. She reached out to Yaro!

"Yaro they are going to fire the STING!" Yaro quickly relayed the message back to all the Clyne faction units.

"WHAT!" She heard him yell, "NO!"

* * *

"FIRE UP ALL ENGINES! WE ARE BEING TARGETED!" Lacus yelled and the crew scrambled to move the massive ship. It soared away from the place where it was as all the other Clyne faction ships moved in panic. It was a wonder none of them crashed into each other. Lacus saw on the monitor Kira and Dearka moving away from the cannon on the STING and trying to find it's weak points. Perhaps them machine was not going to fire, it showed no signs...

The cannon lit up brightly as a large beam tore through the battlefield destroying everything in it's path. A large group of robotic units, a Clyne faction mobile suit team, two Clyne faction vessels and an ORB vessel.

"No" Lacus whispered as he saw the lives that were destroyed in that instant. But there was no time to think the machine fired again, this time the blast headed for the Eternal.

"GET US OUT OF HERE!" Andrew yelled and the Eternal moved away just in time, getting barely scratched by the beam. Another two ORB ships were taken down but it was not over. The STING fired a third time, mainly taking out mobile suits. The Eternal and the Tranquility were still standing a flagships of their forces.

"It fired three times in a ROW!" Lacus declared, "How could it just do that!"

"Look lively, it may not be over!" Waltfeld said as they watched another swarm of robotic units issue from the STING.

"Are you all alright?" they saw Kira's face on the monitor.

"Yes we are fine!" Lacus said, "just hurry and disarm that ship and stay safe!"

"I got it!" Kira said, "here we go!"

* * *

Uzumi slashed at the Hatred overwhelming it's pilot with quick moves. He had never felt like this before. He fired at the unit with everything he had blowing off the unit's shield. he then moved close digging his daggers in it, blocking the machine's helpless shots with his own shield. He smiled as he knew he had the Hatred! He slashed through the legs of the machine with his beam saber in his right arm and punched at the machine's camera smashing it with his left. He then quickly whirled around it taking out all other weapons it had.

Uzumi left the helpless machine and headed into the battlefield with the seed blazing through him and giving him strength. Three robotic units tried to attack him at different times but the could not last with the new power that he possesed. He scanned the battlefield and saw his father in trouble against three Gundam type units. They would not stand!

* * *

"The S System has been activated," she heard a robotic voice through her cockpit, "Emergency S System activated. Meiko Virea, fighting." Meiko felt something rip through her mind as something was forced to explode in the back of her mind. The System forced her into Seed mode and took control of her. She did not know what was happening only that she was fighting Yaro the way she had fought Kira, strong fast and armed to kill. She tried to move her hands of the control but she was being controlled by this system invading her mind. Pain tore through her as she cried out.

"HELP ME YARO," she yelled contacting him, "Please, I can't no!" She couldn't think anymore as her mind was being attacked.

* * *

"MEIKO! What's wrong! Meiko Stop!" He tried calling out to her as her attacks became overwhelming. Even in Seed mode Yaro was no match for how quickly and how strongly she was moving now. He tried to defend and not to fight her but the only way to defend was to fight her. Her radio was left on and he heard her screaming, his name and other things. Nothing made sense. What was going on with her and why was she trying to kill him?

"Help me please!" she called out, "it hurts, I can't hold on! Please Yaro it's got me!"

"Hold on Meiko," he called to her as one of his weapons exploded, he was not going to last against her, "YOU DON'T WANT THIS! YOU HAVE TO LET IT GO! MEIKO!" He yelled to her and she responded with more screams.

"YARO!" she yelled his name.

* * *

Athrun's Seed exploded as he realized he needed to get back into the battle and away from these three units. Kira was going for the STING and he would need Athrun's help.

"Take this!" Athrun turned to dodge a mobile suits shot as he saw the Journey moving quickly and strongly toward one of the units he had been fighting. Uzumi and Athrun's mobile suits now stood back to back defending against the attacks of the three.

"You sure picked a good time to come and help," Athrun said with a smile, together they could destroy these three units in no time.

"Let's get them dad," Uzumi said and Athrun realized his son was also in Seed mode. Together the moved watching each others backs and fighting off the machines. It was clear that the three pilots were not expecting to face a duo that was so in sync. Uzumi had been trained by Athrun after all and together they were unstoppable. Uzumi fired his main cannon at one of the mobile suits gaining a direct hit. Athrun and Uzumi then spun around the unit slashing it up with their beam sabers.

"Good job," Athrun told his son as Uzumi held off the next two units. A swarm of roboits was moving toward them. Athrun quickly moved to turn on his targeting computer and locked on all the units as well as the two left over Gundam units. As he fired all the robotics were destroyed and the two gundam's disarmed. Uzumi's backup had finally given him time to do that.

"Yaro!" He heard Uzumi say and Athrun then scanned the battlefield to see Yaro being attacked by the machine Kira had been fighting earlier, before he could say anything he saw Uzumi's mobile suit blaze toward the battle and he knew that Uzumi could handle it. He turned to join the Freedom, this battle had to end soon!

* * *

"Order all ships to aim main guns at the STING's main weapon," Lacus said, "this is going on far to long! We can't afford to let that thing fire again." Leyas relayed her mother's instructions and smiled as everyone moved to obey her.

This battle was getting harder and harder as time went on and they had to end it!

* * *

Murrue Ramius sat aboard the Archangel as it was in ORB waters with an ORB fleet waiting for what she knew not. They could see the space battle above them since the sun still had not risen. She frowned as her crew was on level two knowing that there was a coming threat. They all sat back waiting. Mu La Flaga sat back in his seat clearly unaffected by their position. In his mind ORB would not be attacked on this front and he had argued that they should go to space but Murrue knew that they had to be down here just in case.

"How do you think it's going up there?" Mu asked her.

"I've heard nothing," she replied looking down, "only that ROW has them overwhelmed." She looked up toward the roof helpless thinking of all the times she had fought with the people that were fighting in space now. She hated sitting here, waiting for news.

"It will be alright," Jacob Gladys said, "it has to be!" She prayed he was right.

* * *

Milady watched the cameras as the battlefield was in front of her holding a black rose in her hands. Tears rolled down her face as she saw it all. The Pain had tried to destroy the Freedom and for some reason it was fighting the Visage now. The ORB and Clyne faction forces were being overwelmed as the STING had fired three times. If it fired again they would not be able to make it. She saw a glimmer of hope as Kira and Athrun had finally united on the battlefield.

"So we just sit back and watch," she turned to see Yzak standing behind her, "watch as all the hope this world has is destroyed."

"We can't go now," she said, "we have to wait."

"Look," Yzak pointed to the screen at the Pain fighting the Visage, "Meiko is going to destroy the Visage, then she is going to destroy the Freedom. She has made her choice. We can't just sit back and do nothing about this!"

"Do you want to be in command?" Milady asked him angrily, "I am not giving up! I know how this battle must go and we can not go out there! If we go out there ROW will fire the STING until we are destroyed! He will fire it and fire it and fire it with no care for what he hits until he knows that I am gone!" Yzak knew she was right, one apperance from Redemption would drive him mad. Still sitting back and watching the battle was too hard to do without saying something. Milady was right, they had to stand strong and they had to wait.

* * *

Yaro knew it was over, he had been reaching out to Meiko but something was controlling her. Something had taken hold of her and his mobile suit was becoming too weak to stand up to her anymore. So it came down to this now, he was about to be killed by the girl he loved all because something was controling her, because someone was hurting her and he was unable to do anything about it.

"Meiko," he said, "Please!"

"HELP ME," she said desperately again. The main cannon on her mobile suit was pointed at him now and his armor was at a low, this was the end. He closed his eyes and heard an explosion but he felt nothing, no pain, no death. He opened his eyes to see that the Pain's cannon was gone in smoke and flying at a high speed toward them was the Journey, still looking like it had barely been fighting. Uzumi had come for him once again. The Pain turned to see who dared to interrupt the battle.

"This is Uzumi Zala," Yaro heard him broadcast to the two machines.

"UZUMI!" he yelled to him, "IT's MEIKO! THE PAIN'S Pilot is Meiko!"

* * *

As Uzumi heard Yaro's words his mind rememberd the similation, Meiko had the strength to destroy him before and she would not. Now she was before him, their simulation had become reality. They were enemies and they were forced to fight.

"Meiko," he whispered as he felt the darkness in his mind that they shared. He had to save her.

* * *

"All ships are targeted toward the weapon, we await your orders Lacus!" Waldfeld said as soon as he got the information.

"FIRE!" Lacus yelled as the cannons from all Clyne faction vessels and all mobile suits fired at ROW's cannon. This battle had to end.

* * *

**I did the best I could but as I said battles are my weak point. I spent a lot of time just planning this battle out so here is half of it. We get to see how it ends next chapter so hold on tight and bring a box of tissues because I am probably going to cry writing it.**

**Please review! I loved some of the reviews I got this time: Shoutout to **Fenikkusumaru, , Byron Lancaster, survivor18, **and **ShyRose () **because you all reviewed the last chapter I was able to gain the inspiration to finish this chapter. Keep Reviewing everyone!**

**Winter's Chill  
**


	19. The Final Breath

** There have been some things brought up about the Kira/Meiko battle. Kira is much better than Meiko but the difference is he is not trying to kill her where as she is going in for the kill. She is very good at keeping back when he tries to disarm her and to him it was a lot of work chasing her around because her fighting style is all about speed. Secondly I realize that Kira has fought in many crazy battles before and lived, I wanted his thoughts not to reflect reason but to reflect what he felt in that moment of fighting about her style. He had never seen anyone who fought the way she did that is what I meant. Also Kira did not enter seed mode and the Pain is a stronger Gundam than the Strike Freedom even with it's upgrades. The Pain was upgraded with a new system that allows Meiko to move however she wants faster than anyone else on the battlefield playing to her strengths. Lastly when Kira was about to win the battle and completely disarm her Yaro jumped in the way. I should have made everything more clear, but battles can be a weakness for me.**

**I am going to use the section to answer Questions now and comment on reviews.  
**

ShyRose () - **Yes Yaro is a coordinator**

BitterSweet09 - **Jeffery is not an intricate part of the story. He may have a larger role in the sequel.**

CPT freedom- **I would love to see this as an anime, I wish I could do it myself but I have no idea what to do. Do you have a suggestion as to a website I could upload the photos to that you could see? Because a lot of people have had problems.**

Fenikkusumaru - **I love your enthusisum! You were the first to review!**

survivor18 () - **Thanks for your constructive criticism! It helps keep me in check on this story! Your opinion is appreciated!**

Byron Lancaster - **Thanks for your review!**

**Long rant ok now here is the next chapter.  
**

Phase 18 - The Final Breath

* * *

"FIRE!" Lacus Clyne yelled as all of the ships under her command let everything the had go toward the main weapon of the STING. They watched as the machine was hit by all the shots.

"How did it?" Leyas declared as the smoke faded and they saw that the cannon was still very much in tact. Lacus had a feeling that nothing would happen, she had analyzed it and knew it was very strong. Only close attacks would really damage it, but firing was worth a try at this point.

"Damn it!" Andrew Waltfeld yelled, "get Kira and Athrun back here! We need that thing destroyed now!"

* * *

Uzumi's Journey now stood between two people that he cared about. Yaro's mobile suit was completely out of power and Meiko's shone brightly with strength that he knew he did not have. He now understood her breakdown after their simulated battle, it was too real for her because she knew all along that the chances that it would be real were very high. She had beaten him before and she could do it again if she wanted to but he knew her well enough to know that she didn't want to.

"Uzumi she is begin controlled! Help her!" he heard Yaro's frantic yells when Meiko's machine attacked. Uzumi blocked feeling the seed burning in his mind with his intense resolve.

"Uzumi please," he heard Meikos voice, "it has me, It's hurting me! Get Yaro out of here run!"

"Not a chance!" Uzumi yelled back to her deflecting her shots and fighting her back, "tell me what's happening!"

"Get... Yaro... out!" he heard her but he also hear her screaming out in pain. What was this that ROW had done to it's own pilot? Who was trying to force her to fight? Who was hurting her? Uzumi slammed the controls of his mobile suit fighting off her attack.

"FIGHT MEIKO!" Uzumi yelled, "FIGHT IT! You're stronger than them! You can decide you're own destiny! You can fight for your own path! Now stop letting them hold you back!" Meiko's screams can over his radio once again. Whatever this was showed no sign of letting up and her attacks were coming on stronger.

* * *

Mike Shurstre watched in horror as Mike sat watching Meiko's battle and occasionally turning up the system that now had taken hold of her. They could hear everything she was saying and everything that was being said to her. Liene was angry, very angry at the two boys for interferring with his warrior. He reached to turn the system up again.

"Stop it! That's enough," Mike said trying to stop him, Meikos cries were becoming more and more violent, "you're going to kill her!" There was hatred and anger in Liene's eyes when he turned back to Mike.

"Maybe," Liene said, "but I will kill them as well!" The system had been installed in her suit as a safety precaution by Liene. It had forced the seed in her mind to exploded and it had taken over her mind treating her like a robot but she was a human being, she would not be able to take much more of this.

"Liene I don't think..."

"This is none of your buisness Mike!"

* * *

Uzumi defended knowing that if he stood down the machine would destroy Yaro, why couldn't he just get out of there?

"Yaro go back now!" Uzumi yelled calling for some Clyne faction units to help Yaro.

"I'm not leaving her!" Yaro responded trying to move his mobile suit toward her. Something was hurting her and Yaro wanted to help her but he had no way of doing so.

"I'll save her!" Uzumi promised, "Just get back! Get to safety, you're a sitting duck out there!" He slashed back at the Pain with his beam saber. The attacks were very strong, much like the ones Uzumi had faced in the simulation. Whatever was happening to her, her fighting style had not changed, it was Meiko fighting yet at the same time it wasn't. He fought to keep level with her for if she gained any ground he knew he would not make it. He saw as the two Clyne faction units grabbed a hold of the Visage and sped back to the Eternal. At least Yar would be safe.

"Meiko listen to me Meiko," he continued his pleads, "this is not you, you're not a killer! I don't know what they've told you or what they are forcing you to do but I need you to look inside yourself! I need you to see what you want and you don't want this! I know you don't!"

"Uzumi," he heard her muster, "please save me. Please." He could tell that her mind was loosing strength and he began to wonder if he could break through to her. He fought the pain, he fought for her mind and he fought the darkness that was pressing on him once again. He had to make it through this and he had to save her!

* * *

Athrun soared through the battlefield and targeted a large group of units with his targeting computer. He fired destroying all robotics and disarming all other units in one instant. He searched the battlefield for the Strike Freedom as he knew it was past time for them to get the metors from the Eternal and attack the ship. They could not afford to let the STING fire again, their battle tactics of not killing were already being used against them. The enemy was showing no mercy this time around.

"Athrun get back to the Eternal we need help!" he saw Leyas's face on his monitor, "the robotic units are coming at us from multiple sides and everyone else is under attack!"

"I'm on my way," he said moving his engines at top speed to go help the ship. He fired at many units as he passed them hoping to make a difference in this battle. He arrived at the Eternal and saw that they really were becoming overwhelmed. Where were the Clyne faction units that were supposed to be attacking them. Athrun quickly targeted all the robotics on his computer and fired taking them out, that was easy.

"We're sending a Meteor," he saw Lacus on his screen, "you need to get Kira and take that thing down now!"

"I'm right here!" Athrun heard Kira's voice over his radio and saw the Freedom flying toward the Eternal as well. The Meteor's were let out and the two powerful mobile suits quickly docked with them.

"Let's go!" Kira said as they both flew toward the STING as quickly as they could ignoring the attacks from the robotic units. As Athrun flew he noticed Uzumi fighting off the Pain with more power than he ever had before. Uzumi was moving with more natural strength and holding back the machine not directly trying to fight it. Athrun wondered what exactly was going on over there and why his son was moving the way he did, almost as if he was trying to help the pilot inside the machine.

"Yaro said he knew the girl that flew that machine," Kira said making Athrun assume that he noticed how Athrun faltered as they passed by, "he said her name was Meiko and that she was forced to fight in ROW." Athrun had heard that name before, Uzumi said Meiko felt the darkness he did. She was a ROW agent all along and Uzumi was trying to save her. Athrun looked forward at the Freedom remembering what it was like to fight a close friend.

* * *

"What's the status Dearka?" Kira asked as him and Athrun met Dearka with a group of Clyne faction units trying to get close to the STING. At that moment another swarm of robotics surrounded them.

"Damn it, won't these things just stop coming!" Athrun yelled, "how many of these things do they have." The three elite pilots maneuvered around the machines quickly along with the Clyne faction units fighting them off. Athrun and Kira destroyed most of them when they were met by another wave.

"You guys go ahead we'll take it from here," Kira heard Dearka's voice, "and watch the cannons this thing is covered in them!" Athrun and Kira then flew away from the battle and toward the STING's main cannon. It was as Dearka had said there were anti mobile suit weapons all over the ship and they were firing everything they could at the two mobile suits. Kira shot down missiles, dodged beams and fired back destroying what he could. It was clear that this machine was built to withstand most attacks and he realized now that this was going to be a lot more difficult than he expected.

* * *

Lacus sat on the bridge watching in great sadness as many lives on her side were being lost. They had already lost five ships to the STING and a few more were in danger from the overwhelming forces that ROW was sending from the STING. Many of her mobile suits had been destroyed and many of her pilots killed with the enemy suffering very few lives lost because of the Clyne faction's humanitarian actions. It was beginning to make no sense to keep fighting this battle as they were very close to loosing. Yaro and the Visage had been brought back to the Eternal for repairs and a recharge and Yaro seemed very eager to get back to the battlefield. He was now on the bridge standing by Leyas's station whispering something to her Lacus could barely overhear.

"WHAT!" Leyas exclaimed in a hushed whisper, "and you knew all this time and you didn't tell anyone."

"I could not just turn her in, she does not want to fight for them Leyas," Yaro responded in another whisper, "I need to get back out there as soon as possible! I have to help Uzumi save her."

"TURN HARD TO PORT!" Lacus yelled catching something coming toward them. Another blast from the STING whizzed by them taking down another Clyne faction vessel that did not move as fast as they did.

"Watch out it may fire again," Waltfeld said as the entire crew of the ship braced itself for another attack that never gain.

"Load all missile tubes!" Lacus yelled, "if Athrun and Kira break those defenses we need to be ready to fire again, get all our ships under the same orders Leyas." She quickly worked explaining the orders to all those who she could reach. Lacus turned to see Yaro still standing there obviously still frantic about the situation outside.

"Yaro get off the bridge if you are not going to do something to help," Lacus ordered.

"I'm waiting for the Visage," Yaro declared looking toward the monitors, "I have to get back out there."

"Then go help the work crews on the repairs!" Waltfeld ordered, "and stop distracting your sister she's working! GO!" Yaro ran out at the older man's orders and Lacus turned back to the battlefield. This was taking much too long for them to defeat.

* * *

The battle raged above their heads as Cagalli, Jeffery and Kayla watched the horizon. It was still night and three hours had passed since the battle had begun. They waited now to see if their families would return safely.

"Mother I don't know what it is but for some reason I'm scared," Jeffery said and Cagalli knew exactly what was happening within him for she felt the same way. Her husband and son were both up there and she was helpless to watch over them. Anything could happen in the battle, she had seen the three bright flashes of the STING firing and she wondered if anyone in their family had been hit by it. It did not matter how good someone was in a mobile suit, one small mistake could cost them their lives.

"I know Jeffery," Cagalli said putting an arm around him.

"There's nothing we can do about it now," Kayla said getting both their attention, "they are all up there and all we can do now is hope." Haro bounced around her repeating the word hope getting a smile from Cagalli. This little girls faith was so amazing as if she had taken on all the strong characteristics of her parents and as she was unaffected by everything going on up there.

"But your siblings are up there!" Jeffery said, "don't you feel just a little fear for them."

"Yes," Kayla responded, "of course I feel worry for them but I know that my worry won't save them. I know that all I can do is hope and pray that somehow they make it through and though it's hard not to be overcome by everything around me I want to stay strong for them."

The stars were out in space shining brightly as the three stared up again waiting and as time went by Kayla fell asleep and Jeffery watched with the growing sense of fear in him. He hated just sitting here and though it was fine for Kayla he believed that she did not really understand everything that was happening. The battle was going on far too long, Lacus had said that it wouldn't been too long if everything went right so obviously something was going wrong. It was a feeling Jeffery couldn't shake and he knew his mother felt it as well, he saw it in her eyes when she spoke to him. His mother felt the fear that he did as they waited.

* * *

"We're taking hits at the port side! Too many robotics," Alicesia declared on the bridge of the Tranquility. Kiran gritted his teeth and looked at their situation. The Eternal was clean right now thanks to Athrun but the Tranquility was suffering to many attacks, it had barely dodged the last blast from the STING. Someone needed to do something about the situation.

"Who's controlling this ships guns?" Kiran asked in a loud voice, "JUST SHOOT THEM DOWN!"

"We're trying!" the CIC commander said, "we're not doing very well though."

"Naturals," Kiran said rolling his eyes and jumping from his station.

"Kiran don't desert your post," the captain yelled with obvious anger but it didn't stop Kiran, he was not going to let this ship go down. He took hold of one of the gunman's controls and quickly took control of the situation shooting down three robotic units wiht heavy missiles. He then moved to the other side taking control of another gunman's post shooting down another three.

"Fire everything you can at them!" Kiran yelled, "don't just sit there." He then began issuing orders to the gunmen and in a very short time all the robotics were gone. The Captain of the ship sighed and rolled his eyes, how could he expect the nephew of Cagalli Yula Attha to just sit and obey orders while they were in peril. Of course he would know what to do to save their ship, he was a coordinator which was very odd to most of the crew who were naturals. Alicesia looked at Kiran in admiration as he took his seat once again.

* * *

"They are going to fire again!" Leyas yelled as she felt a feeling in her mind leaving her with an intense pressure, "move the ship!" The pilots did not need a second warning before they started flying in a random direction at top speed. Sure enough the STING fired a fifth time blowing right through the battlefield obviously not caring how many of it's own units it hit. Two more ORB ships who were near each other were hit and a lot of the fallout from the explosions rained on the battlefield causing chaos.

"I'm returning," they turned to see Shiho on the screen, "my machine was scraped by that last shot and I lost an arm. I am also getting low on power! I request permission to fight on the bridge."

"Permission granted!" Lacus declared, "watch that cannon people!" It did not appear like it was going to fire again but they stayed alert.

* * *

_Things are looking really bad,_ Kira thought soaring around the STING with Athrun behind him trying to break through the machines defenses, _how much longer will we be able to keep this up? Why did this have to happen again?_ He took down another tower and began thinking about the plans that he had seen on the STING. From what he could tell the exterior ring on the STING was necessary for it to be able to fire because it kept the blast concentrated in a beam rather than a scatter of uncontrolled firepower. It might be hard to destroy but he knew that him and Athrun had to try.

"Athrun go for the ring!" he yelled, "if we destroy that I don't think they will be able to fire again."

"Rodger," Athrun responded as Kira booted up his radio to broad cast to all the Clyne faction and ORB forces.

"People of ORB and of the PLANTs," Kira began, "you have seen the destruction that ROW has caused first hand now I tell you all not to loose heart from the numbers of lives lost. We have to win this battle and none of us can afford to back down now! Today is the day that we fight with everything we are for something we believe in, a dream of a world of peace without terrorist groups like ROW trying to corrupt it. Stand strong, fight on and know this that we will never back down, never loose how and never stop fighting for the world we believe in." He shut off the broadcast knowing that it was all he could to to help them hope. He turned to join the Infinite Justice in fighting the STING once again, they had to take out that ring.

* * *

Lacus smiled at Kira's words and watched as the strength of her units seemed to increase because of his hope, she knew he was getting close now. They had to hold on for just a little longer.

* * *

Uzumi defended again trying to fight her off but he was beginning to loose ground. Meiko's mobile suit was destroying his and he began to fight the fear that he would be unable to hold out against her.

"MEIKO!" He yelled. No response now, it was as if this thing had taken complete control of her but he was unwilling to believe that she was going to let herself loose. She was not like the rest of them in ROW and she would not just sit back and wait for it to be over, she was Meiko and he cared for her. There was an unexplainable connection between them and he was not going to just let that go, he had to get through to her, he had to strengthen her mind as Kira had strengthened the minds of all those on the battlefield.

"Meiko hold on," he began, "try hard to remember, all the times in ORB! All the things you did with me and Yaro." He felt the memories of that happy time flowing through him now as he fought to keep from loosing this battle, "all the times you asked me why this world was so twisted and all the times you clearly showed that you wanted peace. I remember when I first saw you smile, you were looking at the stars and saying how much you wished they could shine for you! MEIKO THEY ARE SHINING FOR YOU! Remember the first time we met, when I told you it was all going to be alright! I meant it Meiko and I mean it now, it's going to be alright. You can beat this, it's going to be alright. Please Meiko see the truth of what they are doing to you! They have tried to take control but no one should have that power over you! You are your own person and I know you've always wanted freedom! Now is your chance Meiko break free of all this! Meiko remember who you are! Remember who you are! MEIKO FIGHT IT! FIGHT THE PAIN!"

"I remember!" she cried out, "I remember! I am not this! I am not this! I CAN'T BE THIS! I can't!" The pain's attacks began to falter as Uzumi realized he was getting through to her and just in time.

"Come on Meiko you can do this! That's it Meiko," he said, "I believe in you! You're the best person I've ever met, inside you are everything you've ever wanted to be! You can be everything you are! Come on Meiko, you're doing it!" Tears of joy filled his eyes as he realized that she was finally fighting back with new strength. He was going to save her.

* * *

"NOW!" Kira yelled as the cannon fire faltered enough for him and Athrun to finally get past. They used their targeting computers and took down many robotic units and cannons all at one and moved quickly toward the rin employing the beam sabers buit into their meteors.

"Take the left," Athrun yelled, "I'll take right!" They moved together from both sides digging their beam sabers into the ring and dragging them up along the ship. Slowly things began to break!

"COME ON!" Kira yelled as it became harder and harder to move along it. The whole battlefield watched in awe as the two mobile suits tore at the ring around the cannon. On the Eternal Lacus held her breath and Leyas cheered while on the Tranquility Kiran and Alicesia watched in amazement. Kira moved his mobile suit trying to make it move faster than it could. They were so close to ending this right now! Stopping the STING and saving ORB.

* * *

"What is going on out there!" Liene ordered Gilligan to tell him. Mike stood behind him still watching as Liene's anger rose at Meiko's attempts to fight off the S System. It was working for some reason and Liene was getting really frustrated, now Gilligan had just messaged him that they were in trouble and that the STING was under heavy attack by the Strike Freedom and the Infinite Justice.

"Sir the Strike Freedom and the Infinite Justice are tearing apart the affinity ring!" Gilligan sand angrily, "we've been trying to shoot them down but a group of Clyne faction mobile suits has been suddenly inspired by something and they are destroying our units faster than ever! Sir if they suceed we won't be able to fire again!"

"FIRE THE STING!" Liene ordered, "STOP THEM!"

"But sir if we fire the STING then it might destroy itself! They've caused significant damage!" Gilligan protested but it was too Late Liene was mad with fury.

"FIRE IT!" Liene yelled switching Gilligan off and turning back to Meiko's monitor, "if this girl doesn't fight I will make sure she fights." He began clicking buttons but nothing seemed to be working. The Journey was nearly in pieces but it still fought back and Meiko was taking control of herself once again. Mike prayed she would be able to finish it, that she would be able to break the pain that Liene was now laying on her. He clenched his fists wanting to cheer her on but being unable to.

* * *

"Get back it's firing again!" Kira heard Athrun yell to him and he released his weapons and quickly jumped back away from the ring.

"ETERNAL GET OUT OF THERE!" HE yelled to Lacus desperately as he knew the shot would again be aimed right at her but for some reason the blast never left the shaft.

"Let's get out of here!" Athrun yelled as the Justice and the Freedom led the Clyne faction units away from the malfunctioning cannon. They watched in amazement as the cannon experienced a large amount of mini explosions then finally the blast issued forth burning the machine's frame as it flew by. Luckily it's path had been calculated by all the ships and the delay in firing had given them all time to move away. After the blast had finished the STING seemed to undergo more and more problems.

"Kira it's loosing it's power," Athrun said.

"What's happening?" Kira questioned as part of the cannon completely separated and the whole ship seemed to shut off leaving the mobile suit hangars with no way to eject any more robotics. He watched in amazement as all the robotics went limp and he concluded that their controls must be on the STING.

"We're not out of danger yet," Athrun said and Kira nodded, "There are still a lot of ROW warships but I think we can take them." Suddenly it was as if ROW had been holding it back but a large amount of human piloted mobile suits launched from the mobile suit carriers that had sat in the back of the battle and headed straight for Kira and Athrun.

"Great," Kira said with annoyance, "Why can't you just admit defeat!"

* * *

"The STING has completely lost power," Gilligan told Liene, "We're at a disadvantage!"

"We still have Meiko," Liene said with hatred and anger in his eyes as he continued issuing commands to the Pain.

"What are you doing now?" Mike asked.

"Making sure the Meiko has no way of escape," Liene said grimly with determination, "making sure that she looses all hope of redemption."

* * *

Yaro was tired of sitting around and waiting for his machine to be ready, though the STING was out of power and out of service the Journey was still fighting off the Pain and there had just been another wave of an attack.

"Yaro don't launch!" he saw Leyas's face on his monitor as he prepared his still damaged mobile suit to launch again.

"No chance in hell I'm waiting here," Yaro said slamming his controls to move his mobile suit out of the ship and into space. He spun the Visage around a unit that tried to attack him with anger and slammed into it pulling out his gun and firing directly toward the cockpit. He moved toward the next one pulling out his beam saber and slashing it down the middle. He was not just going to waste time disarming. The enemy was not being lenient to them so why should they show lenience?

Anger coursed through his veins at what had been happening through the entire battle. So many on his side were dead yet they had left so many ROW agents alive. These people did not deserve life, they were lowest form of scum who should have never been born. As anger flowed through him he felt his seed explode for the second time that day and for the second time in his life.

"I am not this! I AM NOT THIS!" She cried out with everything that was in her and Uzumi heard her cries. Tears came to his eyes as her mobile suit suddenly stopped before him. It's cannon was pointed at him yet it did not fire, she had gained control! She had done it! He looked over the damage to the Journey and realized that that last shot would have been his ending, he had made it through to her just in time and she had broken it's hold.

"Meiko," he said with a smile, "you did it."

* * *

She was breathing so quickly as tears rushed from her eyes, her mind still hurt but she was in control again, She had beaten the S System. She heard Uzumi's joy as he kept repeating that she had done it. She moved her hands away from the contorls of her mobile suit right after dropping the weapon that she had pointed at Uzumi.

"Uzumi," she said with tears filling her eyes, "they still have my friend, they are not going to let him go!"

"Meiko you don't have to go back to them," Uzumi responded, "you know now that you don't, they will just make you go through all this again. They aren't going to let your friend live once they learn you didn't destroy me when you had the chance, it's too late for that now." He reached out to her with the arm of his mobile suit, "Come with me, and you will never have to fight again, Meiko you're a good person. The death that they force you to participate in only causes pain, no one should kill another don't let them fill you with hate! Come with me." She looked at the arm of his mobile suit outstretched, it had been torn into pieces by her. She saw for the first time a door that was open to her, a door of escape from this life that she had been trapped in.

"Uzumi," she said seeing the truth in everything he had said. He had freed her from the machine through his words and he was still there now reaching out to her. He was always there in ORB and if she took his offer he would always be there. Trey made his choice and he was strong enough to take care of himself.

* * *

"NO!" Liene said desperately watching Meiko get ready to actually take up the boy on his foolish offer. She was no one but his and she would not be allowed to do this! He angrily grasped the controls turning on the system that was in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Mike cried.

"Closing that door!" Liene yelled taking control of the Pain.

* * *

The Pain suddenly sprung to life again but this time it was not being controled by her. She looked around trying to stop it as she realized what was happening, her machine was no completely robotic and Uzumi was right in her path.

"UZUMI RUN!" she screamed as he jumped to defend against the attack from the machine.

"MEIKO!" he yelled to her.

"NO!" She cried out, "I'm not doing anything! It's just moving!"

* * *

Uzumi's weapons were knocked away from his mobile suit as it was running on low power. The Pain was attacking him again and this time it was being controlled by someone else. He tried to fight back but there was nothing left for him to do. No more power left, no more that he could do.

"MEIKO!" he cried out again as he felt the darkness in his mind growing to heights it had never reached before and for the first time in his life fear gripped him, he was loosing this battle because someone wasn't letting Meiko have her way. Someone was trying to stop her from going to him and that person was ready to kill him. Someone was hurting her while he was jut sitting there scarred. He had to concentrate, he couldn't let this fear just overwhelm him, not if she was to be saved.

"Uzumi RUN!" She cried out again, "I can't control it! UZUMI!" He looked up at her face on the monitor of his suit and let tears flow from his eyes, she was the most important thing now not him. In his time with her he had see someone who knew nothing of the happiness he had his entire life and he longed for her to feel it. Resolve began to fill him.

"Meiko," he said as his fear was gone now because he realized what was important and she was important now, "Don't let this change you, It's going to be alright if you just listen to me, don't let hate consume you. Don't let them control you! Listen to me you have to be strong Meiko."

"Don't you leave me!" Meiko yelled slamming her fist against her machine but she had no control over it, "don't you dare leave me!"

"Its' going to be alright! I will never really leave you, I'll always be here," he said leaning back as the blast from the Pain tore through the side of his mobile suit, "It's going to be alright."

* * *

It was as if the whole world saw it, the whole battlefield turned to see the Pain firing into the side of the Journey. A moment so devastating that somewhere in space a star fell to earth hitting the sea and causing stronger waves on the shores of ORB.

Yaro turned to see what had happened as he felt every strong emotion possible, sadness, fear, anger, greif, hatred and vengeance.

Athrun cried out killing the unit he was fighting and flying across the battle to fight off the Pain away from the Journey, knowing that it was already too late. As Yaro's mobile suit went out of control killing all those it could and following after the Justice Kira felt a hollow sadness fill him. This moment was one that was never supposed to happen, this couldn't be happening. Everyone in the ORB group just stared shocked, how had no one seen he was in trouble? How had no one gone to help him?

* * *

"Order our units to withdraw!" Lacus yelled, "Get us out of here!" The signal flares went up and Lacus saw Leyas collapse from the grief she was feeling at this moment.

"HE has to be alright!" she yelled, "NO! WE CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN." Andrew Waltfelt jumped up to stop her from throwing herself toward the window as she screamed in anger and on the Tranquility Alicesia held Kiran as they both cried.

* * *

"NO UZUMI!" Yaro cried out holding his beam saber and flying toward the Pain, "I'LL DESTORY YOU!" Suddenly his mobile suit was hit by another and his beam saber was knocked from his hands as the Freedom embraced the Visage holding it so that it could not move and flying it toward the Eternal. Yaro saw that The Justice had the remains of the Journey and was moving back quickly as well as the Clyne faction forces withdrew. He turned back to see the Pain and the ROW units flying back to their own ships and he let all his anger flow.

"I'll kill her!" he yelled, "MEIKO!" He slammed his own fists against his cameras letting his greif and anguish out. He was crying uncontrollably in greif that he had never felt before, Uzumi! They were loosing Uzumi, his cousin and his best friend. The best person he had ever known murdured by someone he had sworn to help and all because Yaro couldn't be strong enough to just shoot her down when he first had the chance. He had thought that she was different and that she didn't want this, that she was beign controled by some other force but he knew she was strong enough to fight. She was strong enough to if she really cared she wouldn't have just let this happen. She let this happen! He cried out her name again and silently vowing to himself that this was not the end, he would get his revenge on Uzumi. He had to.

* * *

"Liene you have overstepped the boy was not going to kill your machine!" Mike protested as the Pain was struggling with the ROW units dragging it back toward the ship, "you have shown no honor on the field of battle."

"This isn't about honor Mike!" Liene snarled, "this is about Meiko. Now they will never let her join them! Her only path is the one of ROW!"

"She's been compromised!" Mike replied, "She'll never fight for you the same way again!"

"She will," Liene said sinisterly, "once she see's Yaro's hatred she will." Liene knew his suspicions were correct, Yaro was a very special boy and he was different from the Yamato's. He would not be so easily drawn into their peace loving ways, that was clear by the way he had killed on the field of battle today and the way he lept after Meiko's mobile suit because he believed she killed his cousin. Liene saw it now very clearly, the boy was the one he had been searching for and his own anger would be his undoing.

* * *

"That's my son!" Athrun cried leaping from the Justice and jumping toward the hands who were pulling Uzumi from the wreckage of the mobile suit. Uncontrollable sorrow filled him and Kira saw Athrun loosing his composure for the first time in a long time. He was crying out with everything that was in him holding Uzumi close.

"Kira!" Kira turned to see Lacus flying in with tears flowing from her eyes and he held her close letting himself cry as well.

"UZUMI!" Athrun cried out. He had never felt like this before, his eldest child was dying and he could do nothing to save him. The grief he had once felt at the death of his friends and father was eclipsed by the grief he now felt for his child.

"Father," he heard Uzumi cough and look up at him.

"Hold on Uzumi," Athrun said, "just hold on." Athrun tried to hold onto hope even though he knew it was to late, that Uzumi could speak to him one last time was more than he had dared to hope. Uzumi looked behind him and saw Yaro floating there tears streaming from his eyes.

"It's going to be alright," Uzumi said looking toward Yaro, "it' wasn't..." but he suddenly was hit by another cough. As he found himself unable to breath, Athrun held onto him tighter and felt it as the life left his body. His firstborn son was gone. He cried out more not bothering who saw, Athrun no longer cared that he was a grown man in front of many. He had just lost one of the most important people in his life. There was not a dry eye in the hangar as everyone around looked on in uncontrollable sadness. Kira stepped forward and held up his hand in salute, for the honor that Uzumi deserved for fighting as hard as he did. Everyone around slowly repeated the gesture holding their hands to their foreheads. Yaro did so as well crying so hard that he found it very hard to do.

Lacus stepped forward and put and hand on Athrun's shoulder offering what comfort she could to her brother in law. They all knew this day would be marked in history as one of the saddest days they knew. The whole fleet felt the sorrow and many of them boarded the ships headed for earth knowing that the memorial would be held before they went back into battle and knowing that all of ORB woud weep for their fallen prince.

* * *

Her seed exploded in the back of her mind as she felt a wave of sadness sweep over her. It was as if her breath had been taken from her, as if the world had stopped turning. Something had gone terribly wrong, Cagalli could feel it and Kayal and Jeffery both knelt down beside her now asking her what had happened. The seed burned in her mind and she realized that a life had been taken this day and she cired praying it was not one of her family, not knowing that it was.

* * *

Many of ROW's crew gathered around as a ship hand tried to pull Meiko out of the Pain but for some reason she kept crying out for someone named Uzumi. Mike rushed into the hangar stopping them.

"Get back!" Mike yelled, "all of you get back." He knelt beside the cockpit and looked in to see Meiko but he could barely recognize her. He reached in for her and she started crying out. He quickly pulled her our as she fought him but he held onto her knowing that she has never had comfort for anything and that she needed it now more than ever. She kept pushing him away and screaming out, everyone there was watching in awe at the way this girl was acting. A few guards tried to help Mike but she cried out more violently as they approached. She kept gripping her head and crying out. Mike finally was able to grab hold of her.

"Meiko! It's me!" he said, "it's mike!"

"Mike," she barely said, "why? What's wrong with me?" He wrapped his arms around her like a father protective over her. Liene had hurt her today and he knew she would never be the same.

"Let it out Meiko," Mike said holding onto her, "just let yourself cry." She had not lost it in front of anyone else in ROW since she was a child, they all thought she was so strong and now what they saw was the real Meiko, the scarred little girl who didn't want to fight. She had gone out there and had witnessed so much up to now. Instead of softening the people of ROW it made them harder, for they hated her for being able to feel. They hated her for having the emotion of pain. They hated her for being her.

"I didn't want it to happen," she whispered to Mike, "I didn't do it!" Mike watched as Liene walked into the hangar with a smug look on his face and it was all Mike could do to keep composure. Meiko was in physical and emotional pain because of that man and he was pleased with himself.

"You see now what the system did to her?" Mike yelled, "You see now!"

"Yes," Liene said walking over to them as Mike let go of Meiko. Liene looked at her face and gave her an expression of sympathy, "we didn't realize what it would do to you when we installed it Meiko. I am truly sorry." Mike wanted to punch him in the face but he knew he had to stay loyal for Meiko but the insolence of the man was almost too much.

"It's not your fault," Meiko said wiping her eyes, "I'm not strong enough."

"You are Meiko," Liene said, "was the boy a friend of yours?"

"The best friend I ever had," Meiko said loosing it again, Mike could barely believe that she was falling for Liene's ploys at a time like this.

"Then we will withdraw for now," Liene said putting an arm around her, "you need time to say goodbye. We'll go to ORB as soon as they finish the memorial service and you can say goodbye then." Meiko looked at him in shock, he was really offering her the chance to say goodbye? He had raised her, he had cared for her and he had kept her safe for all these years but did he truly care about what she felt? No matter, she needed that opportunity, to see Yaro and to tell him it wasn't her fault.

* * *

Milady now stood staring out into space with unmeasurable grief. Tears flowed down her face as she held her mask close to her heart once again, she had to keep believing though everything around her said she was wrong.

"I can't believe it Yzak," she said turning to him, "I don't want to!"

"Then don't," Yzak said embracing her, "keep believing what you always have. Keep believing in the girl you remember not the girl you see now."

* * *

**You have reason to hate me now after this terrible tragedy but I warned you to have a box of tissues. Now let me defend myself. When I first started this story it was based on Yaro's dreams and on Meiko's search for redemption, when I added Uzumi it was because his death would be the turning point of the story and the breaking point for Meiko. I never expected that Uzumi would become such an amazing character and as I have written him I have felt a growing sense of sadness leading to this moment because I knew his fate all along. His character has now become one of my favorites and watching him go is hard but I did say a while ago that all the fates of the charaters are sealed and their plot lines are set at least for this story, the sequel is being re-planned. **

**So now I salute Uzumi as I watch him go, I will really miss writing him. Needless to say, I cried so much writing these scenes!  
**

**So six people reviewed and I know I have more than 6 readers, I actually have around 90 visitors on each chapter and 84 of you are not reviewing... REVIEW PEOPLE REVIEWS HELP ME SO MUCH!**

**Congrats to Shy Rose() on posting the 100th review on this story! I was wondering who would grab that! I never thought I'd get 100! Thanks to you all who have reviewed!  
**

**-WintersChill.  
**


	20. A Race Run

**SO all the bad things that happened have brought us to the turning point. Another moment is coming that will bring our main characters to another time. The stage is about to change and someone will find their redemption.  
**

**Another thing I have to say before the next few chapters progress is that Meiko Virea is the main character of this story. Her role is about to change dramatically!**

**There is set to be a total of 50 Phases so we're almost to the halfway point!  
**

**

* * *

**

Phase 19: A Race Run

* * *

_She heard it, the sound of her little girl crying as she entered the nursery. She walked in quickly and took her small child in her arms comforting her until the little girl felt safe again. This was the life she had chosen now, a life that was about her little girl and the world that she would live in._

_"Meiko," she said cradling her and letting some tears flow from her eyes as she thought of everything she had lost, "do you realized how special you are?" The little babe looked at her with her glowing smile that reminded the girl again of her past, "I promise you this, clouds with rage and storms with race in but you will be safe in my arms. Rains will pour down, waves with crash around but you will be safe in my arms. No matter where life takes you, no matter what bad things happen I promise you that I will be here for you, I love you!"_

_At this moment the girl did not understand how she would be forced to abandon this child to a life of pain and death. The little girl would never have her mother there to hold her when she cried, she was destined to cry alone. The simple dreaming mother had no idea of how she would be chased out of the life she had found and how she would loose her entire life.  
_

* * *

_You gave up the fight_

_You left me behind_

_All that's done's forgiven_

_I watched the clouds drifting away_

_Still the sun can't warm my face_

_I know it was destined to go wrong_

_You were looking for the great escape_

_To chase your demons away_

_I've been so lost since you've gone_

_Why not me before you_

_Why did fate deceive me_

_Everything turned out so wrong_

_Why did you leave me in silence - Within Temptation, Forgiven_

It made no sense anymore, no sense at all to Meiko Virea. She was forced into this lie, this life when all she ever wanted was to be free. Was it so hard? Now her own mistakes had cost her another dear friend, another life and it all could have been prevented if she had gone with Uzumi when he first asked. Uzumi or Trey? It was an almost impossible choice for her but now that Uzumi was gone she wished she could do things over, that she had another chance to save him, just one small chance.

She let out a scream as she cried tears of anguish. Everything was wrong, it wasn't supposed to happen that way! How could she have been so blinded as to not see that they were not out of danger yet! She could have called out to the Freedom or the Justice but instead she did nothing. In rage she stood up and gripped a nearby table throwing it to the floor. She looked up and saw her own reflection in a nearby mirror. Tears had stained her cheeks and her face was flushed. Her hair which was usually in order was now matted and messed. Her red locks echoed the blood she had spilled so many times on the battlefield. The reflection of a guilty warrior who did not deserve to live any longer. She grabbed a nearby object and threw it at the mirror. Shattered glass flew around her and on piece sliced her hand as it was passing by.

She looked down at her hand as she collapsed to the ground and pain went up her arm. As she gazed at her hands she couldn't see the wound but rather she saw the callouses that marked her as a fighter. Her hands were so rough from the hours of time she had spent fighting and killing on the battlefield. She was truly hardened and broken by what she had been forced to become and as she looked toward the broke mirror she saw herself in shards.

"It's my fault," she sighed as more tears streamed down her face, "I'm a monster." Now Uzumi was gone forever because of her, just as she had begun to see the truth. She was sure now that Yaro would never forgive her and she had no place left to run to. No more of a way to leave ROW. She had seen a glimmer of hope in her time with Uzumi and Yaro and now that glimmer was gone and she would be forced to fight Yaro again. This time he would try with all his might to kill her and things would be different. But it wasn't right. Uzumi had given her hope, a hope that had been suddenly taken away.

She thought back to the moment, back to everything he had said. He had begged her to be strong, begged her not to let it change her. If he had done it all for her then her going back to ROW would leave his death in vain. Nothing made sense any more. She no longer had the option of joining Uzumi's friends after what she allowed to happen was there any other way?

Yaro would certainly point a gun at her the next time they met, he would not let her live in this world. He would not understand. She had seen it in the way he had tried to kill her back on the battlefield the moment her mobile suit shot at Uzumi. He no longer felt love for her, it had all turned to hatred.

"Uzumi," she cried out to the air, "You promised me! You promised it would be alright! You said you'd always be here! UZUMI!" Liene watched her from the security camera as fear filled his mind. His perfect solider Meiko was breaking from the death of Uzumi and he was sure she was not going to allow the same thing to happen again. She had beaten the S System, what if she discovered about the backup robotic system as well. They were leaving for ORB soon so that she could see Yaro Yamato's hatred for herself, so that she will feel the same thing for him but Liene knew it was not guaranteed, everything would have to be done very carefully. If she did not kill Yaro he would have to be wary, he could not afford to loose her.

* * *

As the shuttle ran Cagalli rushed forward to meet them, something told her that the world was not right and she feared the worst. Though several of the guards that had already exited tried to keep her back she rushed forward. Kira and Lacus exited the ship first both looking at Cagalli with the grimmest of expressions.

"What happened," Cagalli asked desperately as Kira took hold of her trying to get her to move away, she didn't need to see what was coming next, not like this. She cried out looking at Kira with tears in her eyes, "is it Athrun?" Her question was answered as Athrun walked from the ship carrying Uzumi's dead body in his arms. Cagalli ran forward screaming out in anguish as she rushed to her husband and the body of her son. Everyone standing on the dock was shocked at the sight and at that moment everyone present felt sorrow wash over them.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" Cagalli cried out once again but this time no one stopped her, "UZUMI! UZUMI!"

"UZUMI!"

* * *

The sun did not shine in ORB that day as the nation received the official announcement of what all had taken place in space. They all knew ROW had taken something from all of them, their beloved prince and part of the future of their country. The next day was the day of the memorial and once again the sun hid behind stormy clouds. The nation turned out to the capital to pay their respects to a fallen hero, the boy who had in the past inspired them all with his wisdom, the boy who had shone them hope and the boy who they hoped would one day take his mothers place in the council. All that was gone.

The day was very dark and as the day went on the clouds thickened. This did not stop the people as they lined the streets to watch as Uzumi's body would be brought to the memorial site and buried beside the memorial of his grandfather. Cagalli looked out of the car she was in toward the streets and they all saw the sadness through her tears. She saw that they all held lit candles in honor of Uzumi, her firstborn son.

She held onto Jeffery as the drove through and Athrun held onto them both knowing that he had to protect them with his life for they were all he had left now.

They reached the memorial site and watched as the casket was lowered into the ground. Yaro felt numb to it all, he had cried he had angonized over it and now he felt nothing anymore except hatred for those who had caused this. Leyas and Kiran both tried to comfort Kayla but she had ended up comforting them, somehow her strength had not faded. She had cried but she knew what was important now, making sure he didn't die in vain.

The nation watched as it's leaders stood before them now. Athrun and Cagalli stood on the nation's stage both standing back as the ministers made statements on the tragedy of the day. It was very hard for either of them to speak and everyone understood how broken they would be. Lacus Clyne also stood there with Kira Yamato and her family and the whole situation had been explained to the nation and to the world. They had fought ROW together and they were longtime allies from the first bloody valentine war, they would continue to stand together no matter how the world took it and no matter how the PLANTs reacted. The people accepted this now for it was because of Lacus Clyne that their nation was saved from the PLANTs before in the second bloody valentine.

With a heavy heart Athrun knew it was his turn to step forward and speak, to speak for his son whom was gone from his life forever.

"I remember when I first came to this nation as Cagalli's fiance," Athrun began looking out and trying to be strong, "it was very hard for most to accept me as my past was not a happy one. As soon as Uzumi was born none of that mattered anymore, because he was everything that a nation's prince should be. He was the strongest, kindest and bravest child I have ever seen. Uzumi and his brother were both so very special to me in different ways. I trained Uzumi from the time he was a little boy in mobile suit combat, he was always eager to learn but he also felt that he should learn what it was like to be in public service like his mother. He cared about everyone he met and never once did I ever hear him speak an unkind word about anyone or to anyone. One of the last thing he said in life was 'It's going to be alright.' He knew he was going and he was concerned about me." Athrun felt tears breaking free from his control as he remembered what it was like to hold his son unable to help him.

"We as a nation must never forget how much he sacrificed for us in that last battle," Athrun said starting back again after wiping away his tears. Anger filled him as he spoke the next words, "and we will never forget who caused this young and innocent life to leave us! ROW was behind this and they will pay for everything they have done! For every hurt they have cause through these actions! We must all vow today that we as a nation will not allow ROW to continue destroying lives the way they destroyed Uzumi's! Hear this now ROW we will never forget!" The crowds agreed with Athrun shouting toward ROW themselves as Athrun stepped down with tears rolling down his face, he could no longer hold back. He embrace Cagalli who had just lost it as well as the whole nation blew out their candles as one saying goodbye to their prince, the most selfless person any of them had ever seen.

Meiko stood in the audience with a hood hiding her face from the stage and when she blew her candle out she felt as if her life was leaving for her. Mike stood behind her watching over her as Liene worked on something else.

"Do you want to leave now?" Mike asked her knowing how this effected her.

"No," Meiko turned to him, "I need to do something alone, I don't need you there." He looked at her with understanding and he knew that she was very different than she had been before and that if she ever discovered how Liene was the one who did this she would hate him more than anything. She now hated herself taking upon her own heart the blame for the boy's death, it hurt Mike to be unable to tell her the whole truth but he knew she had to find everything out on her own now.

He watched as she fled the memorial ceremony now heading toward the cliffs to say goodbye in her own way.

* * *

Meiko ran through the park as rain started pouring down, she was right outside of the school now. She saw the spot where she and Uzumi had first met and she collapsed down beside it hugging her knees and letting herself cry. It didn't matter how cold or rainy it was, she needed this moment.

"You said you'd be here," she whispered again, "why did you have to go?" She heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see an older couple standing there with an umbrella. The woman had brown hair while the man had blond. They both were looking at her and whispering something to each other. The woman then left the man and approached her and knelt down beside her.

"Hello," she said in a kind voice, "my name is Murrue, me and my husband couldn't help but notice you and we were wondering what was wrong and if we could do anything to help you."

"Thanks," Meiko said standing up, Murrue followed the gesture and stared at her as if she had seen her before. "I don't think you can help me," Meiko said sadly looking down, "I just... I just..." More tears filled her eyes as a sob took her over before she was able to speak again, "He promised it was going to be alright! He said it was going to be alright." Tears took her over again and Murrue looked to Mu and he came over there to offer support to the girl who was clearly suffering.

"There is something about you," Murrue said looking at her again and studying her, "as if I know you." Something then filled Murrue's eyes that Meiko did not understand and she looked toward Mu; he had the same look on his face as they both looked at her.

"You don't know me," Meiko said, "I'm not... I mean I don't know." She wasn't sure what to say to them, they both looked so kind and she knew she didn't know either of them.

"What is your name?" Murrue asked looking into her eyes as if she saw something in her.

"Meiko," she responded a little quick, "Meiko Virea."

"Well you remind me of someone Meiko," Murrue said, "but I can't quite place it. Do you have somewhere to go?"

"Yes," Meiko said, "I have something I have to do now."

"Well it was nice meeting you," Murrue said putting out a hand, "I hope you find peace Meiko Virea." Meiko took her hand and nodded before turning away. Once they were out of sight she ran again, she did not deserve any kindness from anyone. She ran till she stood there staring out to the ocean as a numbness overtook her. She did not deserve the right to feel. She could not feel, she was not hers and she was not real. Her whole life was just a bad dream and when prayed that she would wake up and find herself a child again sleeping in her mothers arms safe and warm. She thought through her life again back to the only memory of her mother and in that moment she held her heart necklace in her hand.

The simple heart had been with her for her entire life, since the day her mother left her. It was this necklace that showed her in that moment that she was someone. Her heart was hers and she knew that something on the inside of her was changing, from the moment that Uzumi spoke to her she knew. Everything was changing.

* * *

Kira watched his son through the entire memorial and through the gathering that was held afterward where many government officials had come to pay their respects. He had seen the look on Yaro's face before on the faces of many people who had just lost someone. Yaro Yamato was filled with more anger than he had ever had. The sadness had gone and in it's place Kira saw that Yaro wanted vengeance. It no longer mattered to him that the girl who piloted the Pain was once his friend and that Uzumi was trying to save her. He knew Yaro blamed himself for what happened to Uzumi. In truth Kira knew the fault was his own because he had not disabled the Pain before letting Yaro face it. He was so focused on getting back in the battlefield he did not even think very much about it. He still wondered now what had went on, Yaro and Uzumi both clearly believed in this girl during the battle but now Yaro wanted her dead.

The services had ended and everyone had begun to rest for the day out of the public eye. There was so much grief around him that Kira felt that the whole house was bogged down in deep sorrow. Kira saw Yaro sitting down in front of a window in a room all alone and knew that now was a good time to speak to him about what happened and to try and help him. Kira knew the path of revenge since he went down it once and he knew that Yaro would regret anything he did in this anger.

"Yaro," he said getting his son's attention, "tell me about what happened while I was away. Who was this Meiko?" He saw anger glint in Yaro's eyes at the mention of her name.

"There is so much to say about her," Yaro replied looking out toward the sun which was due to set in an hour or so, "she was like something out of a dream. I met her on the cliffs..." He looked out as if to make a mental note of something and Kira wondered what he was thinking, he then continued, "we spent a lot of time together, exploring ORB, sharing hopes and dreams, and just living life. Then the whole thing with ORB and the PLANTs happened and I saw her for the last time here. She told me that she was a ROW agent and that she wanted me to stay away from her for my safety. She even warned me that something was coming before the PLANTs threatened us. She said ROW was making her choose between her friends and that they would kill someone she knew if she left. I knew she needed help so I was going to save her. Uzumi said he was going to save her as well but she killed him!"

"Calm down," Kira said putting a hand on his shoulder as he saw Yaro was working himself up over everything, "I remember that her machine stopped in the middle of it's battle several times. What exactly did she say to you?"

"She was worried about me for some reason," Yaro scoffed, "but then something attacked her, some system in her mobile suit or something, so she claimed. She said it was hurting her and that she couldn't control herself so that was when the Pain almost killed me but Uzumi came and he told me to fall back..."

"You don't have to say any more," Kira said comforting him knowing that the death of Uzumi still pained him though much of his greif was replaced by anger.

"I know," Yaro said looking out, "because I know now what she is! She is not a victim but rather a full fledged member of ROW! She is like all of them, damned scum who all deserve to die!" Kira did not like this darkness he was seeing portrayed now. Yaro had always been such a level headed and kind, this side of him frightened Kira for he knew where this would lead.

"Revenge and death are not the answer Yaro," Kira began before begin cut off.

"Of course you would say that!" Yaro yelled, "you don't get it! She betrayed us and we thought she was our friend! Even Leyas feels the same way!"

"Yaro calm down!" Kira ordered.

"It doesn't matter any more," Yaro said walking toward the door, "I have to go." Kira watched him leave knowing that Yaro could not be left alone right now. He called upon a few ORB guards to accompany him, he would have to watch his son carefully now.

* * *

The council was gathered again after a long day of memorial for necessary reasons. The ROW forces were still sitting on their border in space and many of the leaders suspected that they were trying to repair the STING.

"We will not stand for this!" Gratsler yelled for once being on Cagalli's side, or rather ORB's side. However misguided some of his sentiments were he stood by his country with dignity. Now the whole nation had been slighted by ROW with the death of Uzumi, and it had showed at the memorial when everyone had crowded the city to pay their respects. This day was a day that would live in infamy to ORB, for this was they day they would decide to show their strength.

"I agree with Gratsler," another senator said, "they have slighted all of us in this and it will not stand! We are standing with the Clyne faction with everything we have, no matter what the PLANTs have to say about it! ROW is going to regret everything they did!"

"We will not attack another nation," Cagalli spoke finally with tears in her eyes, "we will not allow another nation to attack us and we will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations. These are the words my father stood by, the words ORB was founded on. But now we have been attacked, so now everything is justified. We must not hold back..." She couldn't take it any longer, she couldn't be strong anymore. She leaned down with her hands on the desk in front of her holding her up and she cried out her sons name again letting all her greif flow in a rain of tears that matched the rain outside. Today a nation had been brought to it's knees and next it would stand up in stregth. She felt Athrun's arm around her and when she looked at him she saw his resolve, his anger and knew that he would fight ROW with everything that he had.

As would their entire nation. They would all fight to make sure nothing like this would ever happen again.

* * *

It was all wrong now. His parents had tried to comfort him but they were too broken, they were not strong enough for this. No one was. Jeffery Zala was breaking all alone because he knew that everyone felt the way he did, and that no one could tell him that it was going to be okay because he knew that they themselves did not believe it. His brother was gone and now he was the only prince ORB had left. He loved his brother so much and always looked up to him, now he did not have him there to guide him through. Jeffery knew he was going to have to take on Uzumi's role in the nation but he knew he would be unable to be as good has his brother.

"Jeffery," he looked up to see his friend Nessara standing in his doorway, he had not seen her since he had stayed out of school for the past week and now she was here, "your mother let me in." She saw that he couldn't control his tears and seeing him like this made her cry as well.

"He was my brother," Jeffery said trying to speak to her, "and now he's gone forever." Nessara knelt down beside him, his best friend did not understand what it was like to loose someone so special to you. She thought about Alicesia and how scared she was about her sister going into battle and wondered what she would have felt if she had lost her.

"I know Jeffery," Nessara replied putting a hand on his, "no one is going to expect you to just stand up strong now."

"But I am ORB's only prince now," he said crying more, "Uzumi was always so good at it! Now I don't have him here to help me! What do I do?" She embraced him as he started sobbing and she cried as well.

"I don't know Jeffery," she said, "but I do know that he will always be with you as long as you hold onto his memory. So don't let go! Just don't let go." She held onto him, her best friend protectively now knowing that he would be fragile for a long time now. She would make sure to be there for him through all this, because he needed her now.

* * *

"I'm on her now," Liene said talking over radio to one of his agents, "make sure the forces know we will be returning soon. How many days till it's ready?"

"Two," the man said, "our repair teams have figured it all out and they are replacing the affinity ring with a much stronger one. This time they won't be able to stop it so easily." Liene smiled at this, it seemed that all the plans his enemies had were useless. The end of them all was near. They would suffer the same fate as Uzumi Zala and he would attend their memorials as well, laughing at their failure.

* * *

"Liene will not make the same mistakes twice," Milady said as they floated before a window looking down to earth. Yzak had been helping her plan their next operation, she held on to something she knew and she knew what the next battle would result in, "he is going to make sure the Pain is fighting in the next battle and he is going to protect the STING this time around."

"Are you sure they can repair it? Kira and Athrun did knock the power out of it," Yzak replied.

"More sure than ever," Milady said with a slight smile, "and now I know what happens next. That machine must be destroyed this time around."

"But I think Lacus and the others know that the explosion of the machine would cause devestation for anyone near it," Yzak was a bit suprised at the idea himself but destroying it was risky, "anyone who got to that point would have to be very very fast in order to make it out of the net and all the ORB and Clyne faction ships would have to get out of the range of the blast. No mobile suit in heaven or earth can move that quickly!" He then saw the look in her eyes and knew what she was thinking.

"It all is clear to me now," she said, "we will sit out the next battle but that will be the end of it. We will be fighting ROW soon, be ready!"

"Sitting out cost us last time," Yzak argued, he wanted to fight alongside his friends, "and now none of them will ever be the same!"

"If things get that bad again I'll let you fight," Milady replied floating toward the door, "at any rate Liene now knows where the A1 is, so he won't care about getting Lacus alive or not. Now let's be ready for anything Yzak, our next mission depends on speed and stealth."

* * *

He had felt it, a familiar unction in his mind and it had led him here. He was armed and ready for he knew what he would find and he knew what he wanted to do. Meiko Virea was a fool to ever think that she deserved him as a friend and he was more of a fool for thinking that he could just take her away from ROW. Hatred and anger flowed through him as he had tried so many times to understand what had happened. He knew that his mother was having the Journey's fight records extracted, which was hard because of what a mess it was but he knew the whole truth. Meiko Virea had made her choice and she had chosen to fight with ROW rather than to escape.

He turned toward the cliffs and saw her there standing staring out to the sunset, like she had so many times during the time that he and her were both in ORB. When everything was simple, when she was just Meiko and he was just Yaro. He walked closer and closer not knowing what to say first or even if to speak at all. He could kill her now when her back was turned but he knew it wasn't that simple. He wanted her to suffer the way he had suffered.

She turned to see him standing there and saw in his eyes something that she had seen hundreds of time on the battlefield, a desire for vengeance. Tears welled up in her eyes seeing him this way, he was always such a light to her but now he shared in the anger of a warrior. She felt the darkness in her mind well up for a moment then sink back and she realized it for what it was now, a warning of coming danger and Yaro brought that danger for he wanted her dead now for what she did in space.

"Yaro," she began trying to begin explaining things to him, "I didn't do it! I didn't know, it wasn't me." He pulled out a gun and pointed it at her with hatred in his eyes.

"Save it Meiko," he said and she took a step back in fear, the hatred she saw was something she had seen before in another's eyes.

"You don't even know what happened!" She protested as anger started filling her now. Yaro was not listening to her, he was not letting her reason with him!

"I don't need to know," he yelled, "all I know is that you killed Uzumi." She drew a sharp breath as the moment flashed through her mind again and his words filled her soul. He was dying and he worried about her, the aftermath of it all.

_"It's going to be alright."_

"Yaro I can't deny that I was in the Pain," she said anger filling her now, "but I did not pull the trigger!" She pulled out her own gun pointing it back at him. Now they were on even ground. She hated this, the weight of the weapon in her hands and the hatred issuing forth from him while she was crying and beginning to feel what he felt. Why wouldn't he just listen to her now? The darkness inside of her was growing with every accusation as she tried to suppress it but she could not.

"Liar!" Yaro accused, "you lied to us from the very beginning! You betrayed us to ROW and you are still with them!" Everything he said now was true.

"Uzumi saved me Yaro," she said, "I don't know why because I'm not worthy of life. But when the Pain was hurting my mind his words brought me back. So Kill me if you must, let his death be in vain!" They both stood there guns pointed at each other, something she never wanted to happen, this was not who she was. She saw hesitation in his eyes and that was all she needed to she she lowered her gun suppressing her anger and fighting the hatred that threatened to take her over. Yaro was someone whom she had depended on and now he was her worst enemy carrying everything she did not want to feel. She knew that whatever they had was over now.

"Meiko," he said cocking in the gun as she dropped her weapon and closed her eyes. The shot never came as she heard someone else there. She opened her eyes and turned to see Liene standing behind her, defending her with a gun pointing toward Yaro.

"Drop the gun foolish boy!" Liene ordered, "NOW!" But Yaro had defense as well as suddenly Kira Yamato jumped out from a nearby rock holding a gun and a few ORB soldiers showed up to back him.

"You drop yours Liene!" Kira said with authority. Meiko had never seen him before in person but his presence was enough that she knew who he was. He looked at her and in his eyes she saw sympathy and kindness. He had no reason to show that to her when she had just killed someone that was close to his family. More tears came from her eyes when she turned back and saw Athrun Zala standing among the ORB gaurds. She had killed his son, he deserved the right to kill her.

"So I see we have a stand off," a few more ROW guards showed up as well as Liene spoke.

"Take Yaro back," Kira ordered a nearby guard but Yaro did not move.

"She was the one!" he said angrily pointing at her, "everything was her fault! She doesn't deserve to live!" The hatred in Yaro's voice was evident and Liene smiled at it knowing that his suspicions were correct, this boy was performing his role perfectly without even knowing it.

"Then kill me!" Meiko almost yelled but Liene pushed her back.

"Make a choice now Meiko," Kira said, he had listened to the flight records of Uzumi's Journey right before coming as Lacus had stopped him and showed him. Uzumi had given his life trying to save her and she was not the one controlling her machine, she was about to go with him when it happened. Kira knew now that she was just as broken as any of them over what had happened and she no doubt wished she could change it all. He saw her now, crying before them all and something about her made him realize that she did not want this life. It was the same thing Uzumi had seen and what had caused him to stay with her until the end.

"She has no choice!" Liene responded angrily, Kira was getting on his nerves now.

"I think that is for her to decide," Kira said turning to her, "I forgive you Meiko. You have a chance to end this now!" He held out his hand to her and her breathing increased as memories of Uzumi doing the same thing flashed through her mind. It was then that Athrun stepped forward. She could see the darkness in his eyes and she wondered what it was that he wanted but he said nothing, he simply looked at Yaro and at Kira.

"SHE HAS NO CHOICE! She belongs with us," Liene said yelling and cocking his gun. A ROW agent, one that Kira recognized from Mars, stepped forward and grabbed a hold of Meiko.

"Meiko?" Kira still spoke to her ignoring Liene's threats. She knew now what she did would decide this situation. If she defected now there would be a battle here but if she did not then Liene would hold off till space where Kira and Athrun would show him their true strength. She did not want any more people to die because of her.

"I can't," she said with tears flowing from her eyes faster than ever, "it was all my fault! Everything was my fault!" The ROW agent then led her away from the scene comforting her.

"This isn't the end Meiko," Yaro yelled to her, "next time we meet in battle, I'll kill you!" What Meiko saw in that moment was something go off in Athrun, like a realization that he had at that moment. Suddenly his eyes were filled with confusion and sympathy as he looked back toward her. He walked over to Yaro and then took him away from there.

"We can settle this now Liene," Kira said looking toward the man now standing before him, both their guns were pointed at each other.

"Or we can settle it in space," Liene said with an evil smile, "for if I die here everything ROW has in the world will bombard ORB till it falls, for that will be at least one victory before the organization crashes. Or we can settle this in space, for even now my forces are regrouping as are yours."

"Then space," Kira said as they both lowered their guns, "and we will be stronger for we will never forget what you have done."

"Likewise," Liene replied thinking about Meiko, Kira had almost gotten to her like that boy before. He had to fall in the next battle. Liene would use the Pain to accomplish this for Kira would now be just as foolish as that boy.

* * *

"Why! How can you just forgive her?" Athrun questioned when they made it back to the house and Kira had led him into a room to show him something. When Athrun had seen Meiko for himself he knew that there was anger in her over what happened and he had seen her sadness yet a large part of him felt hatred toward her for what she did.

"I can forgive her because she didn't do it," Kira said clicking a button on a computer and playing it, the tape of Uzumi's last battle retrieved from the Journey and send to them by Andrew Waltfeld.

_"Meiko you don't have to go back to them, you know now that you don't, they will just make you go through all this again. They aren't going to let your friend live once they learn you didn't destroy me when you had the chance, it's too late for that now. Come with me, and you will never have to fight again, Meiko you're a good person. The death that they force you to participate in only causes pain, no one should kill another don't let them fill you with hate! Come with me."_ Athrun listened shocked, this was his son's voice.

_"UZUMI RUN!"_

_"MEIKO!"_

_"NO! I'm not doing anything! It's just moving!"_ Athrun's breathing quickend as he listened

_"MEIKO!"_

_"Uzumi RUN! I can't control it! UZUMI!"_

_"Meiko! Don't let this change you, It's going to be alright if you just listen to me, don't let hate consume you. Don't let them control you! Listen to me you have to be strong Meiko."_

_"Don't you leave me! Don't you dare leave me!"_

_"Its' going to be alright! I will never really leave you, I'll always be here, It's going to be alright."_ Fresh tears filled Athrun's eyes as everything made sense now. Uzumi had fought to save her all along and she had nothing to do with what happened. She was the victim of ROW and they were going to let her take the blame for everything that had happened. The anger that had filled him would have led him to kill her when it wasn't really her who did it, but rather someone who took control of her mobile suit.

"We can't let Yaro fight her!" Athrun said wiping the tears from his eyes, "her mobile suit does not respond to her own commands, no matter what she want's she is being manipulated! Kira, Yaro want's her dead!"

"Yaro knows this is the case Athrun," Kira said sighing and looking down, "He has known all along but he still blames her. Nothing we say to him will change that, I've already tired." Athrun could not believe this, Kira was not going to give up on his son. Athrun knew what it was like to loose a child and he did not want Kira to feel that pain. Yaro's death on top of Uzumi's would destroy them all, this was not a battle he could be allowed to fight in.

"We are not letting Yaro be us!" Athrun yelled and a memory snapped in Kira's mind.

_He was fighting Athrun with everything within him. He hated him, he killed Tolle now he would suffer!_

"Athrun," he said thinking over it all. They had fought so hard to kill each other and in the end they had both suffered from it, thinking the other dead they both questioned their right to live. Revenge, it was something that fuled so many. It had consumed Shinn in the past as well, because Kira had killed someone that he had cared about. It didn't matter that it was an accident or that Kira did not want to kill revenge was still pointed at him. It now no longer mattered to Yaro what Meiko felt, only that she was in the Pain at the moment of Uzumi's death, it was enough for him. Someone had to pay and in his mind that someone was Meiko.

"I'm going to speak to him!" Athrun said, "we have to prevent this."

* * *

"It's truly tragic the way life goes," Liene said, "I know what it is like to loose people I care about Meiko," he looked out the window thinking about it, every moment in his life flashing before his eyes. "It truly breaks you." He looked at her and saw the numb expression on her face, seeing Yaro had given her a shock. She knew he was angry but seeing his hatred had done exactly what Liene thought it would, it had driven her into madness and she would take up the sword once again and raise it against his foes.

"Everything has faded now," she replied looking down, "I can't reach my soul."

"My father was murdered in front of me when I was fifteen for siding with coordinators," he sighed, "and later my wife and son were killed because I chose the path my father did. I know how it feels Meiko and I am here to tell you that the pain you feel with fade and all you will be left to remember them with is your anger. Grasp that anger, take it in and use it for if you let it go then the memory of those you loved will fade." She looked at him blankly and he did not know what she was thinking now. She looked inside herself and saw her own anger but she also heard the words Uzumi had spoken to her. The path Liene wanted her to take was not one that she could allow herself to take. If she did then Uzumi's memory would be in vain. But would it be so bad to let her anger out for once, to fight for herself and for no one else? Yaro was going to try to kill her and in that case should she fight him back or should she surrender?

* * *

The day after the memorial was another dark day and a surprise awaited them all as the Minerva pulled into ORB's port after a long absence. Kira and Lacus went down to meet them with a group of ORB soldiers as Athrun and Cagalli were still too filled with grief. It was hard for both Kira and Lacus to share the horrible news to people whom were as close as family to Uzumi. Shinn was family to him in a way, he was always there as Uzumi was growing up and he had helped Uzumi through many hard times.

"ROW is going to pay!" Shinn said in anger clenching his fists and crying out in anger, "THEY ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!"

* * *

ORB had not been exaggerating when they had said that ROW would pay for the death of their prince. They were sending ten more ships along with the Minerva and two mobile suit carriers. Morgenrate had unveiled upgrades for the Justice and the Destiny that had been conmissioned by Lady Cagalli herself. Two attachments that would allow them to move faster and to fire a weapon with the fire power. It had been two days since the memorial and the scouts had sighted ROW forces moving back toward ORB airspace.

This time things were different though, Athrun would not go to space. He was completely shaken by what had happened and he realized now that his place was with his grieving family, Cagalli and Jeffery. He could not leave them alone now for he would never forgive himself if ORB was attacked and they were taken from him as well. Kira respected his choice. Athrun had never gotten the chance to speak to Yaro who was avoiding everyone it seemed but he had encouraged Kira to try again. Now Kira and Athrun shook hands as the team set off once again to fight ROW off and to defend their contry and their honor.

* * *

"I don't think that we are completely out of danger from the STING," Kiran said to Alicesia. Both of them were on a shuttle headed back to the Tranquility.

"But your father said it was done," she replied, "he said they had beaten it."

"Yes," Kiran said looking down, "they beat it but they did not completely destroy it and because of that, I am sure it will be back."

* * *

"So that girl is being forced to fight?" Shinn asked, Kira had just finished filling him in on everything he knew about the Pain and it's pilot, "if that is the case then why did she refuse your offer?" It was something Kira had asked himself many times, was this girls situation simply played out so that they didn't fight her with everything they had or was she really being held against her will.

"I don't know," Kira said, "but I've been thinking about the past a lot lately. It just doesn't seem right that so much of what we fight for only leads to more and more pain. I remember trying to kill Athrun in the first war and I remember fighting you in the second. And after all that look at us now we are all such close allies and it makes me wonder if we should try harder to save Meiko. Uzumi believed in her, so much that he was more concerned about her in the end than himself, there was really something special about that boy." Hearing his name still left Shinn aching, he had visited Uzumi's grave before they left but he hated that he had missed his memorial.

"The whole nation decided to fight because of him," Shinn sighed and Kira heard the upset in his voice. "If he was really fighting for her can we allow his death to be in vain?"

"Shinn I have tried to talk to Yaro about all this but he won't listen to me," Kira looked out toward space, "he want's revenge so badly that he has forgotten how to think of anything else. If he fights her again then he will destroy himself yet we can't just force him not to fight, he'll just go out anyway. He'll find some way."

"I'll talk to him," Shinn said clenching his fists, "I am tired of watching each generation repeat the past generation's mistakes. One thing is certain Kira, in the next battle you have to take down that machine before Yaro get's to it. Disable it and then take the girl hostage, of ROW values her they will certainly cease fire if we take her." Kira did not like that idea one bit, it reminded him too much of Lacus when she was held hostage and if he did bring her aboard one of their ships her safety would not be guaranteed. So many others blamed her for what happened as well.

"I think she is valued," Kira said, "on Mars I heard her name spoken a few times and there is something about her that, I don't know..." He had been thinking about it since he had seen her, something about her just didn't seem normal.

* * *

"Stellar Louisier," Shinn said walking into the room where Yaro Yamato stared out into space.

"What?" Yaro asked him and for the first time Shinn saw what Kira and Athrun were so concerned aboout. In Yaro's eyes Shinn saw the same anger and hatred that had consumed him so many times in his life but he saw something else as well, a deep darkness about this boy that he did not understand. He wanted this Meiko dead and he would stop at nothing to kill her, it was the same as the story Shinn was going to tell him and Shinn only hoped he could make a difference.

"The name of the girl your father once killed in the second bloody valentine war," Shinn replied sitting down next to Yaro, "she was part of an extended program that the earth alliance had. Her body was chemically altered to make her fight more like a coordinator and they forced her to fight. Kira was only defending a city when he did it, he had no choice at the time but I hated him for it."

"He killed her?" Yaro asked a little surprised.

"Yes," Shinn responded taking the open opportunity he had now, "after I mourned for her I swore that I would destroy the Freedom and kill it's pilot, see I did not know Kira at the time but Athrun tried to stop me. I was so obsessively blinded by my hatred that I never really thought about what had happened or why things went the way they did, I just took the easy way out and blamed Kira." Shinn felt the heaviness of the memories of that time on him now. His actions had been very reckless and wrong, Kira had only killed Stellar because he had seen no other way. The machine she was in was destroying the city and Kira was trying to destroy the machine without killing her but there was no way.

"But you didn't kill my father," Yaro said with a glint of confusion in his eyes, "and you are friends today."

"No I didn't kill him," Shinn said holding out his hands, "but I did shoot the freedom down. I completely destroyed it and in the process I hurt Kira badly and caused the Archangel to be without protection for awhile. It took me a long time to realize how wrong my actions were. Hatred and vengance never turn out right and they always leave you hollow."

"Not this time," Yaro said anger filling him as he grasped it because it was all he had left. All he had left of Uzumi was vengeance and no one would take that away from him.

"The same thing that happened to me happened to both Athrun and Kira," Shinn went on still trying to get through to him and sensing that it wasn't doing any good at this point, "they both had killed a friend of each other. They were best friends and children and when they met again they were each others worst enemies. They tried hard to kill each other but once they both thought they had succeeded they both felt as if they should have died themselves. It left them hollow. Yaro you can't go into battle with a mindset ready for revenge, it will consume and break you!"

"And yet your still here," Yaro replied, "my father and my uncle are both still here. Shinn she killed him, no matter what anyone says about her being unable to control her mobile suit the fact is she killed him. She was strong, stronger than most people I know and if she had wanted to she could have stopped it."

"Just think about what I've told you Yaro," Shinn responded trying not to loose his cool at this moment. Part of him wanted to yell at the boy but he knew it would do no good. As he stood up and walked out he looked back to see tears falling from Yaro's eyes, perhaps he had broken through just a little. Or maybe he had made no difference at all.

* * *

She sat outside his cell leaning against it crying, he stuck his hand through the bars to her shoulder comforting her in any way he could. Trey Likra Day had never seen her like this, she was broken and suffering while he was here rotting in this cell. As soon as she had returned to the ship she had snuck down to see him and he had been shocked. He could barely recognize her, everything she was had gone.

"It was so awful," she sobbed, "and Yaro is going to kill me." She had also told him about ORB, everything she could between sobbing and breaking down. He hated being behind bars through everything, she was being forced to go through it all alone and he knew she would not be able to take much more of it. He hated Liene for everything he was doing to her, she didn't deserve this anymore but it seemed that she had lost all hope of a way out because of him. She had refused to leave because she was scarred they would kill him and she had turned in her other friends for him. Now this Yaro hated her because her mobile suit had killed his friend, not because of anything she had done. Trey knew what had happened, Liene had completed his new system with backup measures to keep Meiko from defecting and she deserved to know the truth.

"No," Trey said comforting her, "listen to me Meiko you have to forget about me now, all that is important is you escaping this."

"What are you saying Trey?" she looked at him frantically, "I couldn't bear it if anything were to happen to you! I've already lost Uzumi please don't ask me to loose you as well."

"I'm asking you to save yourself Meiko," he said, "when I was last at a ROW base I overheard about a system Liene was planning to install in your mobile suit. A system that would force you to fight and give him the ability to control your mobile suit. Meiko he is using you and he killed Uzumi to hurt you! He know's what he is doing and he doesn't want you to know about it."

"How can you be sure?" she said anger rising in her at the thought.

"Because of everything you have just told me," he responded taking her hand, "Meiko you are the only friend I have left in the world, my family was killed in the wars on earth and I need to know that you will be safe. You have to disarm that system before you go into the next battle then you have to defect. I met Kira Yamato when he was captured and he will not allow anything to happen to you if you ask him for refuge, he is one of the best people in the world."

"But if I go they will kill you," she cried as more tears flowed from her eyes, "they will kill you!"

"And I'll die happy knowing that you are safe," Trey said.

"There has to be another way," she said thinking but not finding any answers. She would have to be strong but it was too hard for her but it should not be. Liene had betrayed her trust with this mobile suit system and she would now allow him to use her in that way again. She had to tell Yaro the truth and she had to decide what to do.

Could she really just leave ROW now? Could she really just face her fears and earn her freedom? It was what Uzumi had wanted her to do, but how would Yaro react? Would he ever forgive her?

* * *

"Daddy," Kira turned to see Kayla standing there, Lacus had insisted in bringing her up as Cagalli and Athrun were still in mourning. The truth was Lacus was scarred of her child being out of her sight now that one had already fallen but Kira was the only one who knew this.

"Kayla," Kira said bending down to her level and giving her a hug, when he released her she spoke.

"We are going to win the battle," Kayla said with a slight smile, "but I fear the tears are not going to end. Daddy, I've seen things in my dreams. You have to protect Yaro." Kira wondered what had been going on with his little girl since he had been gone. She had apparently used the seed mode to make a speech like her mother back when Lacus was facing the PLANT fleet and ever since then she had been very different. Everyone said that she was wiser than most and Kira knew that something had changed on the inside of her when her seed had broken, for he knew the day his broke something did change.

"I promise you I will protect him," Kira replied.

"Be careful," Kayla said as she got a faraway look toward space, "they are always watching out there and waiting for something. I am not sure of their intentions but I have seen them." Kira looked out toward space and wondered what she spoke of now when she answered his qustion, "redemption is waiting now, for the breaking of the warrior."

Redemption was watching. Redemption was doing nothing.

* * *

Meiko sat inside the Pain doing something that no one would expect. Her fingers moved faster than most people's typing away and recreating the remains of an older system. This time things would be different, this time Liene would have no control. She watched the computer screen carefully as she analyzed everything about this new model of the Pain. The secret of it's power is that it had two nuclear cores instead of one which is why it fit Meiko's fast style perfectly. She had been working on this system for an hour now and she was almost ready. This battle would be hers and hers alone, no more interferance from the outside. No more interferance from Liene.

* * *

**So our heros are about to see battle once again and this time Meiko is not letting Liene decide who she is going to fight, but with Yaro on the path for revenge and Meiko on the path to redemption what will take place? What happens next in ****Phase 20 - Standing Alone?**

**Thanks to you reviewers: **Joker Oak, Fenikkusumaru, ididlacus, CPT freedom, survivor18, Byron Lancaster, ShyRose**_. _I value all of your responses and I am glad you all are continuing to read and review this story! Stick with me cause there is a lot more coming, some things will be more shocking than others but I am really loving writing this now which I why I have been updating much faster than ever before!**

**Thanks so much and keep reviewing! All those who haven't reviewed I would really like to know what you think, I do read every review multipule times so that I can get a feel for each person's reaction so REVIEW REVIEW!**

**-WinterChill  
**


	21. Standing Alone

**This chapter was so very hard to write for some reason, I don't know why I just feel like none of the scenes were turning out the way I wanted them and I kept making alterations to how things worked and nothing was working. It's been frustrating because I feel like I put so much time into this and didn't get out what I wanted from it!  
**

**Here we go again. More battle but this time an alliance will be formed.**

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* * *

**

Phase 20: Standing Alone

* * *

_"The pilot of that mobile suit is STELLAR!" he cried out as the Freedom stopped at his approach._

It was a day that had scared him forever, the day he lost Stellar and a large part of himself. She was a girl who needed him so much, she needed someone to understand her and to care for her. All she got instead were people forcing her to fight in a war she did not want to participate in. She was afraid of death and she did not belong there but still she was placed on the battlefield. Shinn Auska starred out into space reliving the moment. He had reached out to her, she had responded but then she had become scared of something. Kira really had no choice, she was destroying the lives of many innocent people and she couldn't control herself but for Shinn it was all Kira's fault. He had been blinded by rage.

It wasn't the last time he was blind to the truth, he failed to see everything that was happening behind the scenes with Chairman Durandal and how his twisted plot would have destroyed the world they lived in. He had dug himself so deep into his stubborn hatred that he had tried to kill those who were just trying to save the world. It was Athrun who finally got through to him; Athrun's words broke though his rage and set him free from the darkness that he had lived in since the death of his parents and his sister. That day he finally realized the truth and that day he became a different person.

Shinn had changed so much since that day. He came to terms with the truth about his life and the fact that no amount of anger or vengeance could bring back his parents, his sister or Stellar. Now he looked back to his battle with Athrun as the day his life really began. He had found peace in ORB and in the friendship of those around him. Gone was the selfish boy whom cared about nothing else but his own hatred. He had taken his place alongside Kira and Athrun as the most powerful mobile suit pilots in the world to protect the peace that Cagalli and Lacus were forming. There had been ups and downs through this journey and the anger that had been so much a part of him still surfaced from time to time but his heart was now whole.

Now he was about to enter battle alongside the people who he considered his family. ROW had hurt them all already through the death of Uzumi, the boy who was the best of them in so many ways. Thinking about it filled Shinn with a different kind of anger, this wasn't anger for vengeance it was for justice. ROW had committed a crime against the fabric of the universe in creating that monstrous weapon and they fought as if they cared not for the lives of others. The organization was unjust and Shinn knew it was up to the ORB troops to show them what they were causing. Lacus Clyne would not permit her troops to fight with everything within them, she held them back letting them only disable mobile suits not kill. This tactic was ignored by ROW as they sent out both robotics and real agents to try and upset the balance of the battle. It was much harder to switch between fighting styles than it was to fight one way. Shinn had decided he would fight one way and one way alone, the way of a solider. He had decided that no one in ROW deserved to live and he knew that this time he was right.

* * *

_"I am saying that you hold every answer in your own mind," she said, "you will soon discover the truth of what happened eighteen years ago at the changing of the world. You will return from the place of darkness you now dwell in to take your place alongside Lacus as a leader in this world Kira. You must return to your family or all will be to late; you must save them Kira for an evil draws near unto them and even now one of them has been overtaken."_

They were words he had heard once in a dream, or something more than a dream. His mother that he had never known had appeared to him and spoken these words at a time that seemed so far away for him now. Since then he had seen many things. He had spent time as a ROW captive, a Redemption guest and then had once again taken his place on the battlefield. With everything happening around him Kira had almost forgotten the dream entirely but now that he saw the pain that was in his family he knew that it was more than just a dream, it was a clear warning of what might happen. Yaro Yamato had not been overtaken by the darkness then but he was now, if that was the case who was the one who was completely overtaken?

In his younger years, Kira Yamato had been exposed to war in one of the most heartbreaking ways. He had become part of the Archangel crew because he was the only one who could protect the ship at the time and his friends would be in danger without him. He faced war, he faced enemies and friends and what he had learned guided him through his life. It made him who he was, and he now fought to protect lives, not to take them. So many people around him had questioned the effectiveness of his methods of fighting but he remembered the pain of fighting with everything that was within him and the wrong that he had found when he took a life. He had friends, among them Tolle and Flay; both people he cared about dearly. Tolle had always treated him the same even though he knew he was a coordinator when so many other of his friends had changed around him and Flay had been there for him when he could barely stand to fight. In the end their deaths had been defining moments in who he became but it was the friend who he almost lost that changed him. Athrun had fought him with the intention of killing him and he had fought back with the same intention.

Revenge. He had felt it, he had seen it and he hated it. It was an emotion that ate out the hearts of those who carried it and yet it would not leave until it had fulfilled it's purpose. Kira Yamato was not above the feeling though he seemed strong enough to resist it, in truth no one was. He knew what Yaro felt and he knew what so many others felt now for if anyone took the lives of one of his children he would want them dead as well. It was a part of him he had always wished he didn't have to carry for vengeance was the reason most wars dragged on and on.

Unforgiveness. It went hand in hand with vengeance. Why take your revenge? Because you can't forgive those who have wronged you and because you can't forgive yourself for letting something bad happen. It was not easy to be above the darkest emotions that lived within him, he fought himself on it so many times. It was a constant struggle when he was faced with two choices and the darker of those was easier than the more moral choice.

"It wasn't your fault Kira," he felt hands wrapping around him as he heard that honey sweet voice whisper into his ear, "none of it was your fault." He put his hand on hers and held it tightly.

"My mind knows that Lacus," he said with sadness in his voice, "but my heart can't believe it. What if I had moved faster, what if I had done this, what if I had done that. It's the same as it always has been, I wonder what if things could be different even though I know they can't. The past is in the past. It's gone there is nothing anyone could have done or can do to change that." Her grip tightened and he felt a few tears hit him. He turned around to see her crying.

"I know you understand Kira," she said putting on a smile, "I know." He embraced her and held on, for she had been the one to see him through his darkest nights. Lacus had been there even when he didn't deserve her and he knew she always would be there.

"There is a storm coming again," he whispered, "and this time things will be different."

* * *

Meiko Virea File 1, was what the label said as she opened it up using the hacked computer terminal. She was tired of being in the dark about everything ROW stood for and she wanted to know everything they knew about her. She should have done this long ago when she first started questioning ROW but fear had always kept her from it. She had been afraid of what she would find, afraid that somehow everything would not turn out the way she wanted it to. She opened the first file and saw a long description of the abilities which she possessed, almost like an advertisement. This was not strange to her, Liene did used to lend her out as an assassin, her missions then were very grim but she pulled them off better than any of the other agents.

_Meiko Virea A2: Liene's Warrior,_ The next file read and in it was a profile on her physical information and a few photos of her. She frowned at this thinking about how Liene had been using her as a product all this time. She saw a file she was interested in when she clicked out of her profile _Meiko Virea, genetics and parents_; something she had wondered about her whole life was her real past. She had wondered where her mother went and who her father was. Opening the file she was upset as she saw that everything there had been completely deleted.

"Damn it," she whispered at it. As she looked through the rest of her file she saw that they were dull and uninteresting and things that she already knew. She searched longer through the ROW files trying to find information Items flashed by her as she read them with blinding speed, _Kira Yamato, Super Seed Theory, Ulren Hibiki, Yaro Yamato, Milady Redemption, Yzak Joule, The Reversal, _and she finally stopped when she ran into a file that puzzled her. A picture of a girl that looked strangely familiar with her short dark red hair and warm welcome smile. The girl looked young and happy sitting next to Mike Shurstre and John Liene. She flipped to the next photo and saw the same girl smiling as she held up a ROW emblem. How could any one be excited about being in ROW? She read through the information on the photos, the girls name was Rayla Frost. She flipped to the next one and saw the girl again with Mike holding his hand and pointing out toward the stars. There was something about her that made Meiko feel like she knew this girl from somewhere.

"What are you doing?" she flipped off the screen when she heard Mike's voice and turned to see him looking at her confused. She looked up at him with anger in her eyes.

"Did you know about the backup system Liene had installed in my mobile suit?" She asked with an accusatory tone.

"No," he quickly said before turning away, "not until the battle. I was there when Liene used it."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" she almost yelled but she was able to hold back. This was not the place, they couldn't afford for anyone else to hear this conversation. She had just seen things she could have never imagined and she now understood so much more about the organization which she had grown up into. This was not a place of peace and their goals would never bring about a true peace. Everything she had been told growing up was a lie.

"I wanted to Meiko," he replied, "I wanted to tell you that it wasn't your fault but I never got a chance! There never seemed to be any time, Liene was watching you so intently."

"Excuses," she turned away looking down, "they never bring about anything. You were afraid of what I would do, and you had a right to be." He had never seen her like this, it was as if a resolve had passed over her; in her eyes was a darkness he had never seen before. Her intentions were no longer innocent.

"You're right," he succeeded, "I didn't want you to do something you might regret."

"So it's much better for me to regret something I didn't do?" She countered, "who are you really? You profess to care about me yet you are with ROW? Nothing makes sense anymore."

"It never did make sense though, did it?" he asked her, "your life was always chosen for you Meiko, you never did anything that you wanted to. I on the other hand had every choice that anyone could ever want. I had a future and I gave it away because of something I cared about more and that was the world in which I lived in. Meiko you were always the reason why I was in ROW, because I knew that you had a greater destiny that this and I knew that you needed someone around you that would try to protect you from the darkness you would be subject to. Can't you see that I've only ever tried to help you?"

"But why?" she pressed on, "why was I born if my life was not to be mine? How could I have a destiny when all I see now is darkness, Mike. All I ever wanted was to have something that I could hold on to. You say you wanted to be there for me yet when things were at their worst you never were and I faced so much alone."

"But you see it all now don't you Meiko?" he needed to know what she had determined to do, "you see who you are!"

"Yes," she looked back at him and he could no longer read her, "but do you see who you are? Who was this Rayla Frost?" He did not expect that question as memories flooded his soul. Memories of the simple dreaming girl who loved life and saw goodness all around her, he girl who desired to see the world for everything it could be. Rayla Frost had been everything to him and yet she had not seen him in the same way.

"How did you know about her?" he asked as tears filled his eyes and the events played out in his mind again.

_They ran together down the hall, she dragged him on to a place where they could talk. In her arms was a sleeping baby, one that he recognized from the Nursery but not the one he would expect her to he holding._

_"Liene wants me dead Mike," she said struggling to catch her breath, "I defied him. This is all wrong, can't you see it? Everything around us is a lie! Liene's goals will not bring us to a lasting peace, he will plunge the world into death and darkness and everything that is good will be gone! I can't allow this to happen, I can't allow him to continue all this! I need you to help me get out of here please, Mike!" He had turned away and her words as he realized what was happening, he had suspected Liene's goals were twisted but what Rayla said had just confirmed it._

_"I'll go with you," he said, "if things are that bad you'll need help once you get out of here."_

_"That's the other part," she replied with sadness, "you can't come with me."_

_"Why not?" he protested when she cut him off before he could say anything else._

_"THIS IS WHY," she yelled holding up the baby she held, "because Liene is using children to exact his plans! He is going to destroy their lives and I can't find her Mike! I can't find Meiko, I need you to help me please. I need you to stay with them, to stay with ROW! I need you to watch over her!"_

_"And what will you do?" he asked, "there is no place in the world left for you to run out there, what of your past?"  
_

_"The truth is I've always had a place to run," she responded, "and I will return to that place. I will create an organization that will counter ROW and stop their plans before it's to late."_

_"So you are just leaving Meiko behind?" he questioned._

_"Not really can't you see that," Rayla argued, "I'm leaving you to protect her! Please Mike, for everything we've fought for up to this point you can't allow John Liene's words to hold you back and to twist everything you are! Please Mike you have to help me do this! For the fate of the world, for everything we've worked for!" He saw the desperation in her eyes and he knew that he could not resist any request she made._

He had agreed to her plan and he had stayed behind in ROW training Meiko and trying to teach her how to respect life but it was much harder than he had thought. Meiko was a headstrong child with a will to be who she was, she never wanted to be what Liene wanted her to be from the beginning. It was as if something inside of her rejected everything Liene was and he realized it for what it was. As time had gone on Liene had realized that the only way to train her was to keep her in fear, doubt and pain and he had done that so well.

"Rayla Frost was a ROW agent who worked with Liene on his child projects," Mike began when he looked back toward the girl who had grown up in all this, "you were the only one who actually made it through everything. The training, everything you were forced to go through. Rayla watched over you when you were first brought here and cared for you I believe. Rayla did not truly understand what Liene was working for when she joined, she only knew she wanted to fight for peace to atone for something she had done in her past. When she realized that Liene's mind was filled with his own madness she turned on him, stole a lot of information and stuff from him and fled ROW. I loved her but she never really loved me and in the end I helped her escape though something told me not to. From what I hear she is still alive somewhere, watching and waiting for Liene's downfall."

"So you worked against ROW in the past?" she asked.

"It was a hard time," he replied turning away, "and a very hard choice, but I chose to stay with ROW because I knew you would need someone." It made a little sense to Meiko, Mike had always treated her like a daughter guiding her on though it wasn't always easy. They were separated because many members of ROW thought he was making her too soft. The thought made her wonder about her real parents, the files had been deleted but she knew ROW must know who they are.

"And who are my real parents?" she asked, "the information was deleted from the records."

"I don't know," he responded Liene had kept that secret well hidden and he only had his suspicions, "all I know is that Liene felt that you were valuable to his plans."

_"All pilots board your machines," _An alert sounded on the radio broadcasting to the entire ship.

"Know this that I am not taking this anymore Mike," she spoke with authority, "If Liene wants me as his warrior he is going to have to realize, I make my own rules now. So stay out of my way." With that she stormed off toward her mobile suit reminding him of everything he always knew she could be.

"I won't Meiko," he whispered when she was gone, "the world is and has always been yours."

* * *

"You promised me you'd always be here," she said looking into the blackness in front of her, she sat inside the Pain waiting now and speaking to the darkness, "and now I know that I'm not alone." Tears fell from her eyes once again as she held on to the pain of her past and thought about the deep darkness of her future. There was nothing left for her in this world and it was time to leave everything behind.

"You promised me I'd be alright," fear washed over her at the thought of all that was coming, "Uzumi, Uzumi."

_"Maybe one day it will all make sense," he stood beside both her and Yaro all watching the sunset, "the darkness that exists in the world." They had just finished a long hike to see this. It was something that everyone in ORB talked about, how the hike up this mountain helped them make decisions in their life. Yaro now saw resolve in the reflection of the light on the ocean before it, because though the sun had to leave it was determined to come back again. Uzumi felt hope for though he battled with the dark feeling inside him he knew that somehow everything would turn out right. Meiko tried not to feel anything at all but she felt the same hope as Uzumi, hope that her life could still change.  
_

_"But if we can't escape this darkness then what are we to do?" she asked him.  
_

_"We have to face it," he responded, "no matter what things try to stop us and no matter how many times we mess up we have to keep facing it. To keep trying again and again until we defeat it. It's what makes us human; we are to stupid to give up and to smart to fail."_

The memory faded as she lifted her head and looked out into the darkness around her once again, "we have to keep facing it." She wiped the tears out of her eyes and replaced her sadness with determination. Today the world would see her and no one else, they would not control her anymore, she was ready to be somebody. Liene was not going to control her and no one was going to give her sympathy,

_"It's going to be alright."__  
_

* * *

The ORB ships and the Clyne faction looked out to the battlefield as ROW's army arrived, the exact same one they had faced before and once again accompanied by the STING which had been repaired in a short three days. Shockingly quick to all who saw it now. Lacus Clyne breathed in deeply thinking about the last battle and holding back the tears she wanted to cry. Things would be different this time, they had to destroy it and that alone would be very hard.

"Launch our forces," Lacus ordered, "and tell them to clear a path to that ship!"

"All mobile suit teams launch prepare to launch, Clyne faction forces gather aim all guns down the center," Leyas spoke Lacus's orders clearly. This strategy was much more ruthless than anything Lacus had done yet, she was going to fire right into ROW's forces then launch her mobile suits to fly straight toward the STING.

"Are you sure about this Lacus?" Andrew Waltfeld asked her.

"We can't stand down this time," Lacus replied looking out into the battlefield, "we can't let anything else happen!"

"All ships are prepared to fire," Leyas informed her.

"FIRE!" Lacus yelled.

* * *

As soon as the blasts shot through the battlefield taking down many robotic units the Freedom and the Destiny launched together with all other mobile suit teams. Kira and Shinn moved together instantly and were met by resistance from a few ROW agents.

"Remind you of old times Kira?" Shinn asked, "when we were both in ZAFT."

"The sad thing is that these enemies give you time to reminisce," Kira responded with a slight chuckle, "I bet you don't see how it took me and Athrun so long to break through last time."

"No I see it," Shinn responded with a cocky voice, "boredom. " The Destiny and the Freedom worked off each others moves disabling all five ROW agents then flying through the opening the Clyne faction ships had created. Kira then noticed that the ORB forces had joined the battle with their mobile suit teams. The council had indeed sent a huge amount of mobile suits, they wanted revenge for what ROW had done to them and they wouldn't let anything stop them.

* * *

"Where are you Meiko?" Yaro asked looking out from the Eternal into the battlefield. Anger flashing through his eyes as he stared out waiting. He had been ordered to launch but he had disobeyed, he was waiting for her to make an appearance. There was no time to waste power on the units that did not matter, he was going to take her down today and no one was going to stop him.

"Yaro Launch!" He heard Leyas's frustrated voice. He shut off his radio shutting his family out for now, they had no way of understanding how he felt and they would not like what he was about to do.

* * *

"The Clyne Faction forces have already broken past our mobile suit line," a bridge member informed Liene. He smiled at that, he still held back a whole carriers worth of robotics for this moment. The Freedom and the Destiny had both been sent and the Justice must have remained in ORB, he had indeed broken Athrun Zala enough to keep him out of the battle. Everything was going to his advantage.

"Tell the Pain to launch," Liene said with his twisted smile, "it's time to lure the Visage out."

_I know your out there Yaro_, Liene thought watching the battlefield intently, _now come show us the meaning of the word vengeance_!

"Sir the Pain is not launching!" Gilligan said with anger yelling through the radio to Meiko who was not responding.

"Tell her to get herself out into that battle now!" Liene ordered angrily.

"She is not responding to us, we can't get through to her!"

"Take over Gilligan," Liene said jumping out the door. It was time to use the system again on her, he wasn't going to let her defect. He wasn't going to let his warrior break now. Once he arrived there he was shocked at what he found. None of his controls worked anymore, he couldn't see the Pain or connect with it. He was overcome by rage now as he yelled out in anger, something had happened to his machine and he was sure that girl had done it. She was getting too smart for her own good. He had to get to the hangar before she launched.

* * *

Shinn ripped through the robotics nearest to him. It was exactly as Kira had told him, these things were so persistent it was just so annoying! And on top of that they all looked the same, for a second he thought he was just going mad shooting down the same unit over and over. He shook his head trying to pay attention to the battlefield around him as well as the units he was fighting. The ORB forces were certainly giving it their all today, if any of them had doubts before they were all gone now. Shinn searched the battlefield now for the Pain, the famed ROW mobile suit with the strange pilot.

"Watch your back," he saw a unit near him explode as the upgraded impulse flew by him to fight off a robotic unit near him.

"Luna," he sighed as they fought off a swarm of robotics back to back, "these things are just like annoying flys that won't go away!"

"Well then we will have to make them go away," Lunamaria said slicing through one. They worked together through the swarm, it was still something Shinn was getting used to. Lunamaria had been true to her word and they had stopped fighting and started working together for the same goals.

"What's the status on Dearka's unit?" Shinn asked her. Part of the plan included Dearka's mobile suit unit trying to shut down the STING again so that they could focus on destroying it.

"I heard that many of them went down before they could make it in," Lunamaria responded.

"Have they found that things weakness yet?" he yelled as he disabled the mobile suit of a ROW agent.

"Still working on it," Luna said ducking behind his mobile suit as he held his shield up deflecting a nearby shot. They were in perfect sync now, a team that was not going to go down without putting up an epic fight.

"Damn it Yamato!" Shinn yelled as he saw Kira moving toward the STING at high speed without backup, "He thinks he can have all the fun himself?"

"Let's join him then," Luna said suddenly taking off after the Freedom. Shinn followed her admiring her rash decision, it reminded him a lot of himself of course. He still wondered about the Pain, it had not made an appearance and the Visage still had not launched either. Something was going on and he knew he didn't have time to focus on it all. There was a task to be completed now, the defeat of the STING.

* * *

"Kiran have you finished the analysis yet?" Meyrin asked. Kiran and Alicesia had decided to switch to the Minerva for this battle as the Tranquility was sitting it out on earth. Kiran had quickly been given a job of searching through the plans of the STING for an easy weakness but so far his finds had all been to complicated. They needed to take this thing down fast before it had a chance to fire another five blasts at them, for some reason it had done nothing except launch robotics at this point.

"No I'm still working on it," Kiran declared when Alicesia looked over his shoulder.

"What about that?" she asked pointing to a large structure that was protected behind the cannon, it was some sort of power reactor that held an anti-nuclear structure. If a nuclear blast was set off in that area the battlefield in front of them would disappear in the flames.

"The reactor," Kiran shook his head in disbelief, "it's too risky, even if someone could get close enough it would mean we would all have to be far enough away to avoid the blast! They has to be someway of destroying the weapons without setting that off."

"But if someone could get to it?" Meyrin asked, "and we could get out of here in time."

"We would need a nuclear bomb or a whole lot of firepower and whoever made it would not get back in time,' Kiran yelled.

"Damn," a crew member said with a whistle, "it seems they made this thing indestructible." Kiran looked over the design again and wondered if that was the case, it was getting really annoying for him to see these plans. He couldn't figure out any other way but the way Athrun and Kira had chosen and then the STING would return.

* * *

Lacus felt the sting of pain in her heart as she watched the battlefield before her. It wasn't supposed to happen again, she had sworn her life to protect the peace after Gibraltar. War had almost broken out because of the actions of a few terrorists and she had worked on the treaty to prevent it from happening. She had given up so much for this world and yet it seemed like even through it all she was getting nothing back for all her hard work. People continued on in hatred of each other and mankind seemed to strive to kill each other. Was her life a waste or was their still hope? Uzumi had believed and so had many others who had lost their lives. Here on the battlefield ORB and the Clyne faction fought together to defend that hope for peace and to die for it. She could not afford to loose faith now, the very life she lived would be a lie if she faltered.

The seed exploded in the back of her mind as she felt the lives around her fighting desperately for the hope she believed in.

"Mother?" Leyas questioned when she saw her mother's eyes, something had changed about her disposition, as if suddenly her mother had grasped a hold of a strength that could tip the balance of this battle.

"Fire main cannon's at the STING," Lacus spoke with authority, "Keep believing, keep fighting. We are going to win this!"

* * *

Her ashy eyes watched the battle intently as her mobile suit sat in the darkness behind the STING's main cannon, surrounded by it's mirage colloid, a weapon she rarely used because to her it represented cowardice. The Visage still had not shown and there was a slight hope in her heart that Yaro had not made it to this battlefield, that would make everything she had to do so much easier. The ORB forces were fighting with incredible strength from the anger that they felt in their hearts. She watched the Freedom continue to disable units while so many had given up on that style of fighting, Kira Yamato showed his true strength in this battle. Her eyes then turned to the Destiny and the Impulse, two mobile suits that fought together in such perfect sync, something she knew was very hard to find in two different pilots.

It was time to stop hiding here in the shadows now, the battlefield was alive but waiting for her before it could completely awaken. She moved into position stealthily, in a way no one expected then she turned off her mirage colloid, finally revealing herself. Come what may she had to face her fears and she had to fight for her own heart and no one else. With this resolve her seed exploded in her mind, the first time her course was clear.

It was as if the battlefield stopped the moment the Pain was revealed in all it's darkness. The ORB forces near her seemed to react first flying directly toward her and firing everything they could.

"Just leave me be," she spoke softly now maneuvering around them easily and moving with a sureness that very few had. She swung around the nearest units slicing at different areas and disabling them quickly, no one would die because of her this time.

"I'LL DEFEAT YOU!" She heard an ORB pilot yell over hear radio. She dodged his misplaced shots and met his beam saber attack in stride defending against him. she knocked him back with a surge of energy from her mobile suit, spun around to fire on the weapons of another nearby unit, and made it back around to slice the legs off the previous unit.

"You really think that I'll go down that easy?" she said to the two pilots, "NOT TODAY!"

* * *

"THERE IT IS!" Yaro yelled moving quickly through the battlefield toward the Pain. Meiko Virea was going down today, he would make sure of it. His seed exploded in the back of his mind as he took down any units attacking him with greater speed than he had ever had before.

* * *

"Kira, Kira!" He heard Lacus's frantic voice come over his radio.

"Lacus!" he almost yelled her voice acknowledging her message. The worst had instantly come to mind, if the Eternal were shot down... He quickly shook the thought away, nothing bad was going to happen to Lacus and Leyas while he still breathed.

"Kira," he saw that she was in seed mode, "Yaro has just launched and the Pain has entered battle! The STING hasn't fired yet, what should we do?"

"I'll handle everything Lacus," Kira declared taking in a quick breath as he turned to fight off another robotic unit, "just hold on back there!" So it came down to Yaro or the STING, he had to decide quick what to go for first. Last time focus on the STING had cost the life of his nephew, could he let the same thing happen to his son? He turned to see the Pain across the battlefield disabling the ORB units that were fighting her, she had waited this long to show. Could it be that things were different now? The pilot moved with more assurance. He wondered now what choice Meiko had made.

* * *

"You coward, fight me now!" She heard Yaro's voice come over her radio as she saw the Visage bearing down toward her with its weapons firing. He was holding the largest rifle of his mobile suit and trying to lock onto her. She dodged the shot and it hit a few robotic units that had come to back her up. She quickly turned out her mirage colloid and swung around the units that were coming toward her. She quickly flew by the Visage slicing through the large rile with her beam saber and turning off her mirage. She wasn't going to let this battle go any other way but her way.

"I gave you the chance to kill me and you didn't take it," she spoke to him with authority, "you were unable to do it! Yaro I know who you are and I know that this hatred is not you! Yaro wake up!"

"You killed Uzumi!" he accused flying toward her with his beam saber. She caught his attack and quickly knocked the Visage back.

"I didn't Yaro," she yelled blocking his attack again and dodging his fire, "Uzumi saved me, can't you see that? My mobile suit was a trap all along, I couldn't control it! You have to believe me, please! YARO!" She dodged his fire again moving in for close combat. This battle wasn't one she wanted to fight but she had known it was coming and she couldn't let this darkness beat him.

"You were planning this all along," he yelled, "we thought you were our friend!"

"And I thought you were mine!" she responded when she noticed another ORB unit moving toward her. She quickly attacked Yaro throwing him off, she then spun around and sliced off the arm of the ORB suit and fired at it's main camera disabling it before turning back to Yaro.

"Listen to me Yaro!" she cried out, the seed driving her determination on, "you once told me you loved me! Just listen to me! Uzumi was killed by John Liene, he was using an override system to control the Pain! I had no control! I couldn't stop him!"

"If you knew about this then why did you go into battle?" Yaro asked continuing to try and take her down, "it's because you're one of them!"

"I never had any other choice but to be one of them!" she yelled back thrown off by his accusation as memories of all the things she had been forced to do flashed through her mind. She had seen more death than anyone else her age should have to and she had survived to this moment for a reason. She could see it now, a light that had always laid in her heart waiting for her to find herself. She was not born to be ROW's robot, she was born to be free. She was born to live her life in a way she saw fit and not in the way that was dictated to her by anyone around her. This moment she knew would determine the rest of her life now, she had to break free. A slight violet glow illuminated the cockpit of her mobile suit as her seed energy jumped and fell simultaneously. Something was awakening.

* * *

"WATCH OUT!" Lacus yelled as the STING fired for the first time this battle, the blast moved right by the eternal closer than any others that had come toward them.

"The Starboard missile launchers are down," Leyas reported, "too much heat!" They felt the ship rock as there was a small explosion on the starboard side of the ship caused by the heat from the blast. Lacus knew they could not afford to take another hit like that as Leyas yelled that the engine performance had just decreased by 20% on the starboard side.

"KIRA?" She questioned.

"He is fighting a few ROW agents," Leyas replied, "but the Destiny and the Impulse are trying to deactivate the STING's main cannon again, there are more robotics than last time!"

* * *

Kira knew what he had to do now as he saw the Shinn and Lunamaria heading toward the STING, they were veterans and they could surely handle that machine, he had to stop Yaro and Meiko. He did not want to loose his son they way Athrun had lost Uzumi and he did not want Uzumi's death to be in vain. He had raised Yaro to be better than this, to be better than he was so what was it inside of this boy that caused him to react like this? He fought through the battlefield knowing he didn't have much time, he had to stop that battle.

He had to stop Meiko and Yaro for if they continued neither of them would make it out.

* * *

"It was a system that Liene installed in my mobile suit!" Meiko yelled as she dodged Yaro's attacks. He had gotten much better since the first time she faced him and she knew that if she faltered now that he would destroy her.

"You expect me to believe you!" he yelled at her slamming his mobile suit into the Pain and kicking off of it. With precision he turned the Visage and the main cannons to fire at the Pain with blinding speed but Meiko read his moves and blocked the blast with her anti beam sheild. She pulled out a beam saber and quickly moved into close combat where his weakness seemed to be.

"I won't let you kill me," she declared, "There is something much more important an stake Yaro, don't be a fool! We have to stop ROW!"

"YOU ARE ROW!" he yelled fighting back her attempts at close combat, "you are everything that we have worked so hard to destroy and I will make sure you will never kill again!"

* * *

"It's a risky plan Liene," Gilligan said after hearing what Liene wanted him to do, "but I think we can pull it off. Are you sure he's the one?"

"I am," Liene responded looking out toward the Pain and the Visage's fight, "I've looked for so long now. I've seen the hatred of hundreds but I haven't seen anyone that is quite like this boy, we have to apprehend him now since Meiko is wavering."

"Are you sure that we can't break Meiko again?" Gilligan asked.

"I'll know soon enough," Liene said with a twisted smile, "I'll know everything!"

* * *

"LUNA WATCH OUT!" Shinn grabbed the Impulse and slammed his engines to the max flying just out of the path of another blast from the STING. Shinn watched in amazement as the blast tore through two ORB ships and seemed to sail through the sky endlessly.

"Thanks Shinn," Luna said as he released the Impulse and another wave of robotic attacks began.

"That thing's fire power is incredible," Shinn said as they fought side by side, "we have to stop it!"

"I know!" Lunamaria responded, "why can't they just stop!"

* * *

"Don't do this Yaro!" She cried out more desperately as she realized his attacks were only getting stronger. She wasn't getting through to him, something was very different about the way he was acting and gone was the boy she knew. Tears filled her seed marked eyes as she realized that she may have to loose this battle in order for him to really see. He didn't want to do this, it was something inside him and she knew that he had hesitated before. He had the chance to end her life on ORB, she gave it to him and he didn't take it. There was still a chance that the Yaro she knew was inside this boy who was now so filled with hatred.

"Meiko!" She heard rage as suddenly a few ORB suits flew toward her battle and in his rage Yaro turned to face them.

"NO WAIT!" She cried out wondering who these were. She watched in horror as Yaro fired and destroyed one in a second. She instantly moved the violet glow appearing again, this time slightly brighter as she set her mobile suit between Yaro and the forces that were coming for her. Her mobile suit was thrown off as it was hit by a blast from Yaro and blasts from the ORB troops.

"YARO!" She yelled to Yaro as she saw the Visage stumble back as Yaro realized that he had just fired on his own troops. "Please Yaro you have to believe in me! Please, I didn't kill Uzumi! Yaro can't you see that I need you now, I need you to help me! You told me you loved me, Yaro!"

* * *

Her words sliced through his heart in a way as something broke on the inside of him and tears streamed out of his eyes. He was Yaro Yamato, he had always been the kindest of people fighting only when he had to and never letting hate overcome him. He had always believed in a future without hatred and without fear though many others told him it was impossible. Yet now his future was darkened with the ashes of his own blind hate, his father and Shinn had tried to warn him yet suddenly he felt a while light envelope him.

_"If you kill Meiko you will undo everything I worked so hard to do," he heard a voice he knew well and saw him before him, Uzumi Zala his cousin. The one whom he had lost._

_"Yaro you have two different desires waring inside of you, but it has always been destined to be that way," Uzumi spoke his words with more wisdom than he ever had on earth, "I know so much more now and I fear that there are some things you will not be able to control but there are some things you will Yaro. Now you have to see that Meiko has always been telling the truth, but you know that don't you?"_

_"No Uzumi," he tried to deny it but guilt filled him all the same, "but it was the Pain, you're gone because of her."_

_"I made my choice," Uzumi responded, "Meiko has just made hers. It's too late for me, but it's not too late for you or for her. Please Yaro see the truth of what is happening around you! Yaro you have to fight the hatred, or else it will consume you."_

_"YARO WAKE UP!" _

His eyes opened and he saw it, the Pain flying toward him with it's beam sabers glowing brightly as it sliced through the bottom of the Visage_, _taking away the legs of his mobile suit then slashing away at his arms. With that the Pain jumped back to disable a few ORB and ROW units that were fighting near her. Meiko had suddenly come to life and he saw it now once again, the light he'd always known was in her and the light that he had fought so hard to protect on the last battlefield. The light that Uzumi had given his life for, nothing had happened in vain because she had come to life and Yaro had tried to stop that.

"I'm not going to fight you anymore Yaro," he heard her voice clearly, "I'm not going to do it because I know now that you were right all along. I am not this! Yaro I might have been able to save Uzumi but I didn't know everything I know now! I have something I have to do now that you may not understand but know this, things are different. I may be in ROW but I am no longer with them, my heart is free."

"Meiko," he spoke her name for the first time since his cousins death without hatred. Before he could say anything else the Pain blasted away from him toward the STING but it was soon met by more ORB forces trying to attack it. She didn't kill any of them, though there were so many she was fighting to disable now.

* * *

Meiko fought the ORB forces when suddenly a blast snaked past her view and hit her machine hard in the right side weakening her armor. Her seed blazed as she caught the next attack with her beam saber and saw herself face to face with the Strike Freedom, Kira Yamato had arrived. The prescence of the other mobile suit seemed to break another barrier inside her mind as for a third time the violet glow filled her cockpit. This time it remained for a few more seconds than the two times before but it faded just the same. She fought back his attack knowing that he would consider her disarming of Yaro hostile, she had to set this right as well but there seemed to be no time. He was moving the same as her, with speed and agility as if he was mimicking her to make her go crazy. She tightened her grip on the controls of the Pain as she fought to keep up with him, she couldn't afford to let him disable her.

"Kira listen to me," she cried out as she sped up her movements to try and surpass his, "It's not what you think! I'm in control!"

"What?" Kira questioned as suddenly the Freedom's attacks stopped.

"Liene put a system in my mobile suit, I couldn't control it last time," she spoke quickly and desperately but as she did she noticed something out of the corner of her screen, something she had not noticed before as she had blocked out the radio of the Visage from reaching her. Suddenly a swarm of robotics surrounded the two mobile suits and attacked the Freedom, leaving the Pain in tact.

"Kira!" she cried out as she fought to navigate through the units. She saw the Freedom trying to quickly slice through them and she watched in horror as another wave surrounded the Visage.

"MEIKO HELP HIM!" she heard Kira's voice cry out as the older pilot sliced through the units at a blinding speed but even he wouldn't be able to make it through all of them in time. She blasted her engines knocking them out of the way and taking advantage of how they would not attack her. The seed glow once again filled her cockpit as she crashed into robotic, after robotic.

"YARO!" She cried out when she realized that they were not attacking Yaro but surrounding him. She watched in confusion as the units took a hold of the damaged Visage and began to fly it toward the Prejudice. She shook her head in disbelief and turned toward the Freedom. A few ORB forced had joined Kira in taking down the Robotics. In anger and under the influence of the seed she let out a cry and started slicing through them. The battle between the swarm lasted for a few more minutes when finally Kira and Meiko's two mobile suits stood facing each other and a broadcast interrupted them both.

* * *

"Attention all Clyne Faction and ORB forces," John Liene spoke with clarity not wanting to betray his true anger. Today Meiko had defied him once again but this time he had won something more, "now under the custody of ROW forces is Lacus Clyne's son Yaro Yamato, we have taken him prisoner and are holding him hostage. If you do not comply with our demands we will not be able to garuntee his safety. First we wish that you would with draw from the battlefield immediately, second we wish that the Pain would return to our ship and thirdly we wish that you would give us all the information that you have on the group known as Redemption. You have three minutes to meet the first two demands and three hours to meet the second. If in the course of time you do not meet all the demands laid out Yaro Yamato will die."

* * *

"Kira can you hear me? Kira?" Meiko spoke quickly now knowing that they didn't have much time now, the minutes were ticking away fast and she had a lot to explain and so little time. The Eternal and the ORB ships had sent up their signal flares issuing their withdraw and the Freedom would be leaving soon.

"I have to withdraw and you have to return to the..." but she cut him off before he could finish.

"I'm with you completely, with everything that I have," she spoke quickly with authority, "ROW never cared for me, they've always used me and left me empty. Uzumi died for me and now I will fight for you and your side." Kira listened and any doubts he had about this girl fled, the conviction in her voice made something inside of him tell him he had to trust her. She had to return to the ROW ship now but they weren't fully aware of how much she had defected at this time. The wheels in his head began turning as he realized what she was trying to get across to him.

"Yaro?" he asked.

"Wait for my signal," she replied and he saw her face on the monitor, her eyes were expressing everything. She spoke so much with so few words and he knew exactly what she was planning now.

"Alright," Kira said but before he could say any more the Pain blasted away so he turned and headed back for the Eternal praying that his new found ally would be able to complete her self imposed mission. His son's life was at risk now but something told him to trust this girl so he would. He trusted Meiko Virea without question.

* * *

"Your plans are near failure!" Mike Shurstre declared as Liene stood in the hangar of the Prejudice watching the Pain return and watching his men lead Yaro from the cockpit of his wrecked mobile suit.

"Meiko Virea still returned," Liene smiled as he spoke, "and there are ways to make her more, compliant." Both men watched as Meiko lowered herself from her mobile suit, her red pilots suit glinting off the lights above her. Liene did not understand what she had done on the battlefield, nor did he knew what exactly had taken place out there. All he knew is that it appeared as if she was still wavering, enough to where he could still have her of he played his cards right. She walked toward them and removed her helmet shaking out her long red hair and he saw a fire in her eyes that he had never seen in her before. She lifted her hands as she approached.

"You have me now," she said with defiance, "so are you just going to stand there or are you going to kill me." Mike's eyes widened at her words and Liene stepped forward masking his anger with sincerity and kindness, trying to win her back over.

"Meiko we are not taking you prisoner," he said sweetly, "we are your friends and I hope you will be able to see that."

"What kind of friend installs a system into another's mobile suit because he is suspicious of her motives?" Meiko accused, "what kind of friends minipulate and lie to each other? Liene why? What do you want from me?"

"I raised you Meiko," Liene said as anger began to grow in him at her words, "don't you understand that I'm on your side."

"I understand you perfectly," Meiko replied with a slight smile, "too perfectly." She saw Gilligan Manchester use the electric baton on Yaro who was fighting the guards. Yaro looked in her direction at that moment with fear, pain and sorrow in his eyes and her strength began to waver at his gaze. Gone was the hatred and in it's place was a brokenness she never thought she'd see.

"Come with me now Meiko," Liene said placing an arm around her, "we have things to discuss." She went with him only glancing back one more time at the cries of Yaro filling the hangar. She prayed he would have the strength to survive for just a little while longer.

* * *

"We're close now," Milady said to Yzak, "very close."

"You know we could loose everything here now as well," Yzak responded, "this is a gamble, are you sure your willing to let it happen?"

"Yes," Milady said with a smile, "more sure than ever."

* * *

**So I think it's the worst chapter I've written for the entire story because I don't think I suceeded in getting every emotion across! I don't know what has been wrong with me, I want to write but every time I sat down to work on this chapter it seemed like nothing was flowing right. I would be so much easier if I could just direct a team of animators to take everything I envision and make a series out of it because writing is a much different form of communication.**

**Thanks to**Fenikkusumaru, Joaker Oak, Byron Lancaster, BitterSweet09, survivor18, CPT Freedom, Shy Rose, SamuraiGundam, **and** i am kira** for the reviews! They all really mean a lot to me as a writer because from them I get constructive criticism and praise which helps me develop into a better writer so let me know what you think this time and REVIEW!**

**Note to Shy Rose and Survivor18 - I am working on an Uzumi oneshot as you requsted Shy Rose and to survivor18 I am looking into putting the pictures on photobucket.**

**Thanks to you all again and REVIEW!  
**

**-WintersChill  
**


	22. A Wish For Redemption

**Positivity, that's what it takes. I've got less than a month till school starts again and when that happens you won't see as many updates so I am heading toward the halfway point, hoping to get there before then. **

**This is the Chapter I've been waiting for. I have been really nostalgic about the day when I first started writing this story and I've been thinking a lot about the process I went through to create the plot line. I knew I wanted to write the story with a female Gundam pilot as the main protagonist but it took a long time to create the character of Meiko and even longer to create Yaro, who I am still working on within the story. It's been a long hard process getting to this point because there were so many times I felt like I just wanted to skip everything and make the jump but now that I'm here I am happy I made it. There is plenty more story left and quite a few moments that I wish I could just give to you but it's been a long time getting here and I don't know how long it will take me to get to the end of this but I am sticking with it.**

**So I have also written a music score for this story, I know I'm kinda obsessed or maybe it's just that I'm passionate. After spending last week without inspiration I woke up this morning and played out almost all of the score pieces I have written for the story in order to feel all the emotions. Music is one way that I have always expressed myself and I've decided to use music to get into the mindset of my characters now and so far I think it's working. I hope to record my music score sometime and put it up on youtube for you all to hear, I think that would be fun.  
**

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* * *

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Phase 21: A Wish For Redemption - granted?

* * *

"What is going on up there?" Gratsler said angrily slamming his hand on the table in front of him. A report had just come in that the fighting had suddenly ceased with neither side having a real edge over the other.

"Yaro Yamato was taken prisoner by ROW," Daubi said informing the rest of the council what he had just been told, "and they were told that if they withdrew no harm would come to him. Yaro is the adopted son of Lacus Clyne so ORB followed her in withdrawing as a precautionary method but with this going on the battle is now uncertain and a rescue would be very hard to pull of in this setting."

"Then we will have to trust that our forces in space will have a solution," Athrun spoke up. Him and Cagalli were both present at the council though they were told it wasn't necessary. Everyone understood why they had kept out of space for now and declined to make any public statements about the battle taking place. The whole nation had fallen under a shadow and everyone was anxious to know exactly what was going to happen next. The news stations were playing any news they could get on the battle situation and wild stories about tragedy and loss ran around. There was a lot of fear cast over the land now and Cagalli regretted not saying anything to assure her people that they would make it through but she still could not face the nation in light of what had happened. It was as if her heart was taken from her, she had lost one of the dearest people in her life. Athrun did his best to help her but he felt the same thing she did, unexplainable loss.

"The nation is in an uproar," Gratsler said holding up a report of the people, "they demand to know what exactly is happening up there and they want someone to tell them. They need you now Lady Cagalli, will you just stand down and watch this go on?"

"Gratsler!" Daubi responded harshly, "the people will know soon enough, you don't need to do anything Cagalli."

"But I do," she responded with tears in her eyes, "my father fought so hard for this country, I've fought so hard for this country and what do the people see now? They are scared and I'm to weak to just tell them that everything is going to be okay. I've tried so hard to think of something to say to them but I can't get do it. The nation needs me and I can't help them." She put her head in her hands as more tears filled her eyes. Athrun fought the sorrow that laid within him as well, he tried to tell himself that life goes on but he knew it would take time for Cagalli and himself to really be alright.

"I can speak to them," everyone turned to see Jeffery Zala standing up from his seat in the back of the council room. Athrun's eyes widened at his son's words.

"You don't need to Jeffery," Athrun said walking toward the boy, "the people will understand if we all just wait awhile longer."

"How much longer father?" Jeffery asked and Athrun saw his son's own anger and sadness through his own eyes, "the people need someone and if my mother can't do it then ORB needs me. I am their prince now, and Uzumi would not have wanted us to all just stand back and do nothing! Father I have to do this, please let me. Give me the chance to prove myself." Athrun put a hand on his young sons shoulder, the boy was too young to feel all this pain yet Athrun knew he couldn't stop it now.

"If you're sure about this," Athrun responded.

"Athrun?" Cagalli said his name in a questioning tone and Athrun gave her a reasuring look. He knew his son well enough to know he was every bit as stubborn as his mother when he got an idea in his head, the boy would not give up on his wish. He wante to do something to help.

"You have always been strong Jeffery," Athrun spoke, "there is no need for you to prove yourself to us, we love you but if you feel that this is something you really want to do then I won't stop you."

"Thank you father," Jeffery said when Cagalli stood up and embraced her little boy, he was all she had left and she wasn't going to let anything hurt him now.

"We love you," she said through her tears, "don't ever forget how proud of you we are."

"I won't mother," Jeffery said hugging her back, he knew how lucky he was to have them as parents and though the times were hard now he knew they would all get through this together as a family.

* * *

The shadow over the city was still there, the sky was still gray and the people still mourned but now they turned out to see something they never expected. The young Jeffery Zala was speaking to the nation for the very first time and in light of the recent tragedy the people were all amazed at the recent turn of events. Jeffery walked up slowly holding his head high and thinking of his brother as he walked to speak to his nation, for he was their only prince now and he knew now more than every that this is what his brother would have wanted for him and he was stepping into it. His parents and the council stood behind him all unsure of what to think of the young boy who had been completely broken a few days before standing in strength before his people.

"It is something that we have not expected," a news reporter said, "to see Jeffery Zala here before the nation less than a week after the tragic death of his brother. While many have expected Representative Attha to stand before us it is her youngest son who takes her place today and we all await what he has to say." All eyes were on him now as he breathed in looking out toward the crowd, a small ray of light shined through the clouds toward him and he looked up knowing that his brother was watching him now.

"Citizens of ORB," he spoke with authority, "friends, countrymen and to all those who are watching for the nations around the world. There are many things which I feel now and many things which I want to share with you, some more than others. You all know the pain that this nation has experienced from the sudden loss of my brother, Uzumi, but you do not know the pain which I have felt personally." He paused and looked out into the crowd, "I remember the very first time Uzumi addressed this nation, it was at the celebration of our grandfather and all he did for this country. I remember Uzumi telling me that he was not scared at all when I could see he was more nervous than he had ever been in his entire life but that was just the type of person he was. He never wanted to put a burned on anyone else and he never wanted other people to fix his problems because he knew that they had their own problems to solve. When the ORB ships returned with the news that my brother was gone I felt many emotions anger, pain, sorrow, loss and emptiness. I know I am very young but it was as if my life had been ripped from me but in those moments of sorrow I began to remember everything my brother was and I began to see that my wallowing in self pity over my loss was not going to bring him back." Cagalli leaned into Athrun to hide the tears that were falling down her face now.

"Uzumi was never one to show weakness, he always showed strength and even in the darkest times of his life he was able to smile. So now I face you all and in his memory I smile," Jeffery smiled though it was very hard to do, he kept reminding himself that he was speaking for Uzumi, "I smile today because I know it is what my brother would have done. Uzumi was the best of us and now I call you all to in his memory smile and think of all the times he stood before you ready to serve the people in any way he could." The people felt these words and many of them were able to smile. Jeffery paused thinking about the next part of his speech, the most important part. Now he would inform the world about ROW.

"As you all know from the various news networks, the force that now opposes us is not a nation but a militaristic organization known as ROW. The intentions of this nation are unknown but we do know that they have entered our airspace with a full force and have attacked out military. We initially sent troops up there to defend in case their intentions were not good but they attacked first. Using a large ship with a cyrstal based cannon that has the ability to fire more than one shot simultaneously. The fighting has currently stopped due to the capture of Lacus Clyne's oldest son Yaro Yamato. They two sides have agreed to a ceasefire for now but it seems that ROW is playing the situation to their advantage," Jeffery paused looking toward his father for approval at the words that he spoke. This whole thing was more nerve racking than he had expected but he knew he had to be strong and confident for his nation so he continued, "I know that this news of an uneasy ceasfire does not sit well with you all and honestly it is true that our nation is in danger from this threat but I am here to tell all of you that you have to trust in what our forces are doing up there. Lacus Clyne has been fighting for peace and our own troops are being led by Captain Meyrin Hawk and the Minerva."

"I am here to ask you all to remain calm in this threat of danger, though the dark has been cast over us now the sun will rise again," he spoke with the hope that he felt now, it was a hope that he had learned from the memory of his brother. He had been so very broken but the time he had been given had given him time to reflect on everything his brother was and everything he himself could be. He had always seen hope shining through everything that Uzumi did and over the past few days he had gone searching for that hope and he had found it inside himself. He wanted his nation to see his new strength and he wanted them to feel strong, "I urge you all to stay strong and keep believing in the people whom we have sent in our name to defend this nation. We are going to make it through this for we a stronger than them because we have everything the enemy doesn't have. We have faith, hope, strength, and right and good on our side. So though we go through this darkness we will not back down, we will not quit and we will not stop believing for right will always win and we have been unjustly attacked and so justice will win this!"

He stepped down as his heart raced from what he had just spoken. The people around him all cheered for his words and he felt a warmth growing on the inside of him and he knew his brother was watching him. He looked up toward the skies with tears in his eyes as he felt his fathers hand on his shoulder. He then saw it, the clouds were beginning to split in the sky and he knew that he had expressed everything inside of him this day.

"Uzumi would've been proud," his father said to him.

* * *

It was all black, everything he saw descending into blackness. He felt everything that he had tried to shut out with hate. It was a group feelings inside him so strong that he couldn't shut them out sorrow, fear, pain and guilt. Where there was once light now there was darkness, it gripped him tightly not allowing him to see anything else. Even in the unconscious state his mind tortured him with images of everything that had happened the last couple of days. Uzumi's death, Meiko's ultimatum and his own inner darkness. Hatred had ruled him in the aftermath of his cousins death and he had been unable to see anything else, though the people around him had tried to warn him of the emptiness that accompanied it he had not listened. He has succumbed to a hatred that was deeper than anything else he had ever felt and though only part of him wanted it he was completely overtaken by it. It was his way of blotting out the other painful feelings inside of him, the overwhelming pain.

Now he was dying inside from those feelings that he had tried so hard to escape and because of the hatred those feelings had escalated leaving him broken and battered. He wished he could be numb to it all but it had happened so suddenly. The girl he had loved but at the same time hated had caused a war within him of that love and hate. The battle raged on and love won when she called out to him so desperately but with that love came all the feelings of regret. It was eating at him now and he tried so hard to block it out but he couldn't. He had known all along that it wasn't Meiko, he knew that she would never do something like that yet it had seemed like the only way to destroy his own guilt. To place the blame on someone else.

He was falling into the blackness around him now as he lay on the ROW ship unable to move, unable to think and only able to feel the pain inside of him. His emotions were all one as he felt tears forming in his eyes and in his heart, for he was unforgivable and yet no one blamed him the person who had really caused everything. He felt that Uzumi's death was his fault because he hadn't tried to warn anyone else about the danger Uzumi was facing and he hadn't tried hard enough to save Meiko from the darkness inside of her. Now he saw that it was him that deserved death more than anyone else and he knew that it was coming, ROW would not keep him alive for long. He wanted to erase the pain, the scars of everything that he had done but he saw no way out except the way of his darkness, the way of death.

He lay there still in his sorrow and pain trying to blot out all feeling and being unable to when he became aware of another presence in the cell. He sat up to see another boy sitting against the bars near the exit of the cell, in the light away from the shadows. He looked as if he had been through a lot here and his eyes told his tale of loss and self sacrifice.

"I was wondering when you would wake up," the boy said turning away from Yaro as he spoke with a cold voice, "Yaro Yamato I presume. My name is Trey Likra Day, ex ROW agent and friend to Meiko Virea the girl you tried to kill." The wheels in Yaro's head turned instantly as he remembered the reason why Meiko would not go with him and Uzmi initially was because of some friend she had that she said ROW would kill if she left. He realized that this must be him, still locked up in ROW and still alive even after all Meiko had done on the battlefield.

"Where is Meiko?" Yaro asked quickly.

"How should I know, they never let me out of this place," Trey replied dryly, "but since you ask I can assume she is alive and that you didn't kill her like she said you would." Yaro's eyes widened at his words, so Meiko had told Trey everything. He turned away ashamed of himself for what he had done on the battlefield and ashamed of the darkness that he tired to bury deep inside himself.

"For everything I've done," Yaro spoke softly, "I only have regret. For it was all wrong, everything inside me is wrong."

"Meiko Virea," Trey said with a slight laugh, "not exactly the name of a killer. She believed in you when you didn't believe in yourself and knowing her she doesn't blame you for anything."

"Who is she really?" Yaro asked looking at the Trey, "you've known her longer than I."

"But no one really knows her," Trey replied, he was very angry at this Yaro fro what he had done to Meiko but he knew that Meiko felt something for this boy. "Meiko is a mystery. She is the greatest mobile suit pilot in ROW and she has potential to rival the best in the world. She is ROW's top assasian and can pull of a job more effectively than most. These are descriptions of who ROW thinks of her as but along side that I see a girl who has the world in front of her. She has potential to be great and a drive to be better than who people have tried to turn her into. The problem is she has been broken so many times that its almost impossible to see past it all to who she really is."

"Do you think she is going to rescue us?" Yaro asked and Trey nodded.

"With you here it is certain to turn out that way," Trey replied, "It just depends on whether or not she believes in herself. ROW has beaten her down so many times that she has always been afraid of them. That's why she hasn't rescued me yet but no doubt her feelings for you will overcome any fear she has."

"Feelings for me?" Yaro asked confused. Meiko had not really responded to his declaration of love toward her other than to say that she wasn't worth his love. Yaro knew that he had fallen in love with the girl he met on ORB but he wasn't sure if that was who Meiko really was. He didn't know how anyone like that could care for him after what he had done to her and to everyone else.

"She denies that she is even capable of love," Trey said and Yaro saw a hope in his eyes, "but she told me all about you and in that moment I was sure that though she doesn't quite realize it she cares more for you than for anyone else left in this world. She spoke of you in a way I've never heard her speak about anyone."

"I don't deserve it," Yaro said clenching his fists, "I don't deserve anything but death."

"She feels the same way about herself," Trey sighed, "but the truth is that I believe as long as your alive there is a chance that you can find redemption no matter what it is that you have done." Yaro heard his words and in his heart he hoped dearly that they were true because everything he felt now would destory him if there was no way to turn it around. The words of Trey struck a small spark of hope within him, hope for redemption. Wish for redemption.

* * *

"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Shinn yelled slamming his hand down on the desk in front of him, "we can't just sit around and wait for that girl to backstab us again! The time is running out, we only have forty five more minutes till ROW kills Yaro if we don't tell them what we know! We can't just let this happen!"

"Whats worse is that we need to destroy that weapon," an ORB captain said, "they are using the boy to hold us back, we need to stop them and I say that his life is forfeit. Do we even know that they haven't killed him already? And did they say if we met their demands that they would release him to us know? They don't expect us to attack now so I say we should go in before they realize we are not caving into their demands." Kira shook his head at these people, everyone had been mad at him since he said that they had to trust Meiko Virea, the ORB captains were all angry because it was Meiko's blood they craved. Kira had tried his best to explain things to them but they weren't buying it. Lacus and Meyrin had stood on his side along with the Clyne faction but the rest were getting more nervous as time went on.

"Yaro is my son!" Kira almost yelled loosing his cool as he felt anger over the insolence of these captians, "We already lost Uzumi don't you see we can't afford to attack them now!"

"What about giving ROW what they want," another Captain spoke up, "this Redemption has certainly proved it is no ally of ours! We don't even know if their intentions are good, they could be just waiting for ROW to fall so that they can take it's place as the world's greatest terrorists. Why protect something that we don't even trust?" It was a hard question for many of those there but Kira had spent time with Redemption, they had saved him from ROW and he believed that their intentions were good even though they seemed to not want to fight along side his forces.

"We've been over this!" Kira yelled this time, he was on edge with Yaro sitting inside a ROW ship for this long and waiting wasn't helping. Meiko had assured him that she was with them but what if she couldn't do anything from the inside like she had planned. Two hours had passed and they were still waiting for some signal from her but they got nothing. The people around him had been expressing the same things for the past two hours and he was tired of it. Didn't they realize that he was concerned for the life of his son here? He knew that no information he had on Redemption would satisfy Liene, he didn't know enough to help their situation, they had even flown him out to Lacus not letting him see where their base was. It was all getting to be too much and the constant arguments flying around weren't helping him. He put his head in his hands and he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned to see Lacus looking at him with concern in her eyes. She had stood by him on the waiting but he could tell she was just as anxious as he was. His heart beat quickly in his chest as he tried to keep himself calm but he couldn't do it. He had seen how Athrun broke over Uzumi's death and now he had no idea what was going on, if his son was even okay or not.

He hated himself for letting Yaro get captured and he knew he should have been able to break through those forces. It was all wrong, it wasn't supposed to happen and he knew that this waiting was beginning to drive him insane.

"Stop all of you!" Lacus Clyne stood up and yelled at the group that was arguing, "can't you see that we have no choice but to wait just a little while longer! Return to your ships all of you and await my orders! If anyone so much as moves to attack ROW we will consider you an enemy and contact ORB to deal with you accodingly, is this understood!" They all looked at her with shocked faces, they did not expect this but they knew they had no choice but to listen to her. Their forces were led by Meyrin Hawk of the Minerva and they knew that she would follow Lacus to the end so they all silenced themselves and left the ship except for Shinn, Lunamaria, Meryin and Andrew Waltfeld. Lacus walked over and wrapped her arms around Kira's defeated shoulders and rested her head on his right shoulder. He took comfort in her gesture knowing that she understood everything.

"You know they might be right Kira," Shinn said trying defend the captains, "we don't know what Redemption is planning, we don't know what Liene is going to do with Yaro and we can't be sure that this Meiko is really on our side. Yaro's life is in the balance and we may just need to try and contact ROW about anything we can do to get him released to us." Anger filled Kira as he listened to Shinn admit defeat so easily, their time was not up yet! They had to wait, for the sake of his son they couldn't afford to attack ROW and he knew Liene would make no deals with them. Liene wanted something more or he wouldn't have singled out Yaro. Furthermore Meiko's words were burned in Kira's mind, she was resolved and something about her made him trust her without question.

"I trust her!" Kira's head shot up and he yelled. Shinn had never seen him this agitated, his eyes were burning with anger and Shinn knew the reason why was Yaro. Kira was frustrated with himself and with everyone else around him, just waiting was very hard but he had no other choice.

"Then there must be some reason why it's taken her this long!" Lunamaria declared, "I mean we don't know that she is even capable of getting Yaro out of their in one piece. What if she gets caught?"

"You think I haven't thought about that!" Kira said in response, "do you think that this is easy for me to just sit back! Every scenario has run through my head and they all end without Yaro getting back to us! I don't know how it is that she was planning on helping us but I do know that we don't have any other options! We don't know enough about Redemption and Liene hasn't said he'll even give Yaro back to us! I hate just sitting here but I can't think of any other way! They have us at a stalemate!"

"Even so we can't just give up," Lacus spoke up now, Kira needed to calm down and the three here were not helping him, "Kiran is working out strategy's for possible rescues and if all else fails I will speak to Liene before the time runs out." Kira looked at her and she wasn't sure what he was thinking.

"If all else fails," he said, "that may be all we can do."

* * *

"What are you doing Kiran?" Alicesia had been watching him for a few minutes as he had a determined look on his face and he was typing a million miles a minute. He had been in this position for far longer. She turned to see the door to the bridge opening and saw that Captian Meyrin Hawk had returned with her sister behind her. Those two had been gone to the Eternal for about an hour and Alicesia wondered what orders they would have with them but instead of saying anything they silently sat in their seats both looking solem.

"I am planning an escape for Yaro," Kiran finally said responding to Alicesia.

"Your father has ordered us to wait a little longer," Meyrin spoke when she heard what Kiran was doing. Kiran sighed and slammed his head into his hand.

"I know that!" he protested, "I didn't say 'I am going to rescue Yaro right now' or 'I am on my way' or anything that implied I am disobeying orders all I said is that I am planning a rescue for Yaro! Key word PLANNING!" He shook his head and returned to his work. Alicesia knew he was worked up about the situation and everyone hoped that it could be remedied soon.

"Kids," Lunamaria said rolling her eyes.

"On the contrary I am a teenager," Kiran responded, "I am no longer a kid." Alicesia laughed, he was such a literalist sometimes that it was funny to see what he would say next.

"Do you think Yaro has a chance?" Alicesia asked.

"Yes," Kiran replied with a smile, "but it all depends on that girl, because we are all hoping we can trust her."

* * *

She was feeling a bit anxious, well maybe more than a bit. How could she not with her best friend and former friend both locked in the cell bay here in ROW's command ship the Prejudice. She knew now that Liene understood he had all the strings to her life and all he had to do was pull them yet he wasn't vying for his normal method. He had spent a whole hour explaining the world to her in a new way and explaining all his actions in an attempt to get her to choose ROW over everything else she felt. It was as if he didn't really understand what she had gone through in the past few days. He expected her to just brush off the past and move on while doing nothing about the pain she had gone through here.

She now stood with Liene on the bridge waiting for his orders. She knew that their time was running out but she was still a slight bit unsure of herself so she waited to see what Liene would do.

"We've waited long enough sir," Gilligan Manchester spoke to him with hatred. Meiko ignored the man knowing that Liene would wait for the time to expire before doing anything rash. She also understood that Liene wanted Yaro for another reason, not just for use as a bargaining chip. He wouldn't just kill the boy without making Yaro fufil whatever evil plans he had for him.

"We said we'd give them three hours and we are going to," Liene replied, "then we are going to attack."

"What about the boy?" Gilligan asked, "what are we doing with him."

"If they don't respond to our demands," Liene spoke with a twisted smile on his face, "we are going to show them a video of Yaro's fake execution and Meiko will do the honors of killing him."

"WHAT!" Meiko almost yelled in protest as she heard it.

"You are the only one who can convince them that he is dead," Liene said in an unsympathetic voice, "now smile for me Meiko please, we are about to win this battle and this war. The world will soon be restored all I need is your total cooperation." Her heart beat increased at his words and she was sure everyone on the bridge could hear it as her breathing changed from it's usual rhythm as well. She looked at him with horror in her eyes which soon changed to anger. He expected her to go through it all again, to let it all happen. Her whole life had been a lie and now when she had the chance to change it he expected her to just forget the past and move on with ROW. She was different now, ever since Uzumi's death her heart had for some reason healed. He had given her hope and a reason to keep on fighting for something more. Her wish was for redemption and it was that wish for redemption which she followed now.

Nothing Liene said would change that. No more speeches on how ROW is going to restore the world and no more talks on how she is just going to obey what he says. She had lived through it for too long and she had made up her mind. The path that Uzumi had taken was the one to truth in sacrificing yourself for someone else. She had chosen to join Kira Yamato and she would not go back on her choice.

"No," she said, her voice rang through the cabin. Everyone turned as that one word rocked the hearts of all of them, it was the first time any one had ever heard it said to their master for no one dared to define him. Liene looked at her in disbelief at what she had just said, the scarred little girl was gone and in her place was a young woman with strength and determination. She opened her eyes and looked at him straight in the eye. "I'd rather die." The simple three word phrase earned multiple gasps as they realized that Meiko, the girl that Liene said would accomplish all their goals, was done with her life and with ROW. Gone was the scarred little girl and in her place was a strong young woman.

"You will obey me!" Liene demanded, "you are a part of this organization! You were brought up in it!"

"No!" she said again this time with more strength, "I'm not your robot Liene, I'm breaking free from it all! I am my own person and I will never fight for you again!" Liene walked up to her slowly but she stood her ground defiantly.

"Obey me!" he shouted smacking her so hard she flew to the ground. Her eyes looked toward the ground and filled with anger as something exploded in her mind she looked at him with fury, rage and lighting. A slight glow electrified through the room and Liene stepped back in shock. The glow faded very quickly as tears filled Mieko's eyes.

"Seed mode!" Liene declared quickly pulling his gun from his side, he didn't have time now. He couldn't allow his weapon to defect, he could win without her but he could not win with her as an enemy. She stood up slowly as if mocking his attempts to weaken her.

"Shoot me!" she declared. He fired and she moved her head allowing the bullet to fly by her ear," I will make sure you loose!" She lept into action before anyone could take her out. She knocked through guards, crew members and Liene himself, flipping, kicking fighting hand to hand as she had been trained her entire life. It was here that her assassins training would be useful and Liene realized that his strongest agent had just defected. No one would be able to take her out.

Her moves were quick and precise as she flipped backward through the double doors leading to the hangar and drew a gun firing at anyone who dared come at her again.

"three, two, one," she whispered as all the sudden the doors shut fast and all the systems in the ship suddenly left black except for the emergency lights. She smiled to herself and ran toward the cell bay. She was no longer ROW's robot, she was herself, she had just begun and there was no going back. Her wish was for redemption and she would have it. She hoped Yaro and Trey were both still okay.

* * *

"Sir all main frame systems are down!" A crew member yelled, "It's like we've been taken over by some computer virus! There is no contact with the rest of the fleet and we can't find Meiko!" Mike looked around to see the panicked faces around him and he knew that some of these people were innocent of Liene's crimes and could be saved. He had no idea what Meiko was planning but he knew she was responsible for this.

"Search the ship I want her found now!" Liene yelled.

"She'll go to the cell bay," Gilligan said with an angry look, "you know it Liene!"

"Then send everyone we can there!" Liene shouted his orders, Mike had never seen him this angry before. Meiko had crossed the Liene and now there was no going back for her. "Get our systems back up!"

"No Liene!" Mike jummped into action, "there is no time! This ships systems are all damaged, you know that she has that ability! She's a lot smarter than she looks Liene! Now listen to me we have to get off this ship now! We have to get everyone off before she destroys it." Liene looked at Mike with pure hatred in his eyes but he knew that Mike was right. He had spent a lot of time making Meiko perfect and he knew that nothing he did now would matter to her, but if she got away she would be unstoppable.

"Order an evacuation then but I still want her found!" Liene declared looking out into space seeing the Eternal and the ORB forces sitting in the distance. Meiko would rather die than to serve him, then so be it. Nothing she did could stop the STING. He would have no other choice than to kill his warrior before she destroyed ROW.

* * *

She heard gaurds coming as she ran down the halls desperately, there was no going back now. She had made her decision and though it wouldn't lead her to the light she knew it was the right one. Uzumi had been right and his memory drove her onward. She qucikly jumped up grabbing a pipe above her and swinging herself onto it and out of sight. She drew her two guns and waited as the gaurds rounded the bend she fired four quick shots killing them all instantly. She then jumped down and resumed her run. She entered the cell bay and the gaurd turned to her.

"What are you doing?" he yelled when she quickly jumped and kicked him in the face knocking him out instantly. She bent down and took his gun and the keys then proceeded to the cells. She rounded the bend and she saw Trey standing up.

"Meiko!" Trey looked at her with assurance.

"Let's get out of here," Meiko said unlocking the door when she saw Yaro sitting at the back wall of the cell.

"Meiko?" he looked suprised to see her there and she turned her face away. She still felt guilty for how she left him completely defensless on the battlefield. He on the other hand felt guilty for what he had done to her, it was all wrong. Trey saw the situation and hurried back to help the weak Yaro stand. He knew that these two would have to hold back their emotions until later.

"We have to go now," Trey said desperately supporting Yaro, "Meiko?"

"This way," she said leading him down the hall. Seeing Yaro that weak hurt her, it was no doubt because of the electric batons the ROW agents commonly used as torture. She began to think about her plan and what she had to do next and she wondered if Yaro still blamed her for he wasn't really speaking to her. Hurt filled her heart as she thought of the wrongs she had done in her life, today she would atone for her sins and she would find her redemption. Yaro on the other hand felt the wretchedness of his own heart and prayed that somehow he would be able to undo all he had done.

* * *

"What is going on over there!" Lacus declared as the bridge of the Eternal watched the Prejudice loose all of it's power, something was definitely up.

"Meiko?" Kira gasped.

"Did you see it?" a transmission from Meyrin came over their line.

"Yes," Lacus quickly responded with a smile. It seemed that Kira had been right about waiting, something was definitely up. Kira held on to his hope that Meiko would pull through, that somehow she would get Yaro back to them safe.

* * *

**So as I was writing this chapter I realized that it was going to contain way to much and that it would probably turn out to be a very long long long chapter. With that in mind I decided to split it in half which means the few phases are:**

**Phase 22: Sacrifice  
**

**Phase 23: Meiko Virea**

**Phase 24: A Broken World**

**Phase 25: Searching For Answers**

**So I am really excited to have gotten this far this summer and I hope to get farther before it's over. Thanks for being such great and supportive readers! Thanks to **Fenikkusumaru, CPT freedom, Joaker Oak, Byron Lancaster, Shy Rose, survivor18, **and **SamuraiGundam** for your reviews and keep REVIEWING! Those of you who don't review it's never too late to start!  
**

**-WinterChill  
**


	23. Sacrifice

**So perhaps this isn't the greatest thing for me to do but I have started planning another story. I haven't written it yet but it is called Gundam Seed ROW's Minx and it's another prequel to GSR about Rayla Frost's time in ROW. Would anyone be interested in reading something like that cause if not I won't even start writing it.**

**So I got a good positive response for the last chapter which made me happy that I am back on track, thank you piano! This next one was a lot more battle than the last and there will be a moment that will scare you all so just keep in mind who the main character is and don't fret.**

* * *

Phase 22: Sacrifice

* * *

_"I'm starting a militaristic organization known as Redemption," she spoke to him with boldness and authority, "the point of it being to counter a terrorist uprising that has been planned by a man named John Liene for years and to save the life of a little girl who is destined to save the world. I want you Yzak, to join with me because I need someone with strength and someone who knows about what it takes to lead a successful military. I am not strong enough alone."_

* * *

"Stay here," she whispered to the two boys with her. She heard noise round the corner and knew that she could handle a fight alone. She turned the corner holding both her guns up and was shocked to see Jurme Krey standing before her.

"So you're a killer now Meiko," he said with a laugh at the guns she was holding up toward him, "I didn't think you had it in you, guess you were always a ROW agent after all." Something was bothering her mind, a danger sense and she knew that he was not to be trusted in any matter. Liene's real warrior was now before her. Anger was already in her so none of his words could change that but they did stop her to think about the lives she had just taken. She moved her guns back for a second as memories of all the death in her life flashed before her eyes and she shook her head.

"So Liene sent you," she spat angrily trying to stop the war within her mind that his words had caused. She slipped out of seed mode as confusion rose within her, she had vowed that she would not be ROW's agent but she still killed.

"Actually I had to see if for myself," he smiled and she took a step back knowing that Yaro and Trey were listening to ever word that was spoken, "the little girl, the weak little girl whose abilities defied her personality. You could take out an army without firing a shot yet you would stoop to using those weapons on the four guards that actually caught up with you? It's too good to be true, the little girl has grown up." His words made her drop her guns in shock, he was right. She was no better than them again. She shook her head as anger filled her heart at her own actions, she didn't deserve this life.

"So now you see that you are nothing," Jurme yelled raising a gun and pointing it at her, "but of course this sort of fighting only taints the victory." He threw the weapon away and raised his fists, "we've never seen whose better at this." She looked at him in surprise, he didn't want to kill her he wanted to test his own strength again. She didn't have time for this, the two lives she had to save were still there hidden behind her and she knew that if she didn't beat her own weakness here that they would be caught. Resolve filled her once again and she flipped herself over the boy in front of her spinning around and catching his punch with her hand. She quickly twisted his arm and blocked his next few attempted blows. He punched again but she slipped on one of her blocks and his energy send her flying backward she landed on her feet and looked at him with anger evident in her eyes. She flipped back toward him leaping into the air and kicking but be caught her foot and twisted her sending her backward again. She hit the wall and used her momentum to bounce off of it and fly toward him with blinding speed. He was unable to catch a hold of her as her hands grabbed his collar and her feet both slammed into his stomach. She flipped backward off of him and landed with her fists up as he jumped up again looking angrier than before.

"Just give up Jurme," she said, "if you turn back now maybe you'll have at least some dignity." She jumped once again this time grabbing his hands at his wrists before he cold get a hold of her and flipping over him, landing on her feet and trowing him over her head into the wall. She quickly jumped and grabbed a gun off the floor pointing it at him.

"Coward!" Jurme yelled trying to stand back up but he lacked the swiftness of Meiko so he wasn't able to catch himself on the wall causing him to slam into it full force. She was angry with him for even thinking that he could rival her and he was angry with her for beating him once again.

"I have no more time for you!" she yelled throwing the gun, it hit his head knocking him out instantly. He was right about one thing, she had stooped down to ROW's level in killing their guards but she knew that she had no choice now. Her hands were already tainted there was no going back now, she would take much more life this day than that. It was something she had to ignore now, it was the truth. She was raised as a ROW agent and part of her would always be just that, a killer. Trey and Yaro rounded the corner both shocked at the strength of the girl they saw now standing there before them. She walked and picked up her guns then turned to them.

"We have to hurry," she said and they took off toward the hangar once again. If any guards stumbled upon them Meiko showed them no more mercy embracing the darkness of her own life to fight for the light.

* * *

"Something is changing," Kayla's words echoed her faraway look and Leyas looked down toward her strange little sister.

"What?" Leyas asked. They both watched the Prejudice together and waited for something but what they saw was it go black and nothing else. Leyas had sang her song waiting for Yaro, hoping beyond hope that he was alright. There was too much darkness around them in this time and Leyas was fighting to hold onto hope. They had already lost Uzumi and loosing Yaro would be too hard for her to handle now. She was angry at ROW for what they were doing to her family and angry at herself for being unable to do anything about it.

"Meiko Virea," Kayla said, "she's changing. She had made up her mind earlier but now it's changed. The darkness is present."

"You mean she isn't going to rescue Yaro!" Leyas questioned shocked at her little sister for saying such a thing but as she saw the seed in Kayla's eyes she knew the little girl saw much more than her. Leyas was having a hard time trusting Meiko Virea, the girl had lied to them on ORB and had been in the mobile suit that had killed Uzumi. She had heard that the mobile suit was rigged but it was still hard for her.

"No," Kayla shook her head, "she is going to save Yaro but she is not going to save herself." Leyas looked out into space once again this time singing a few lines of hope for the people that now fought out there. For the people she loved

* * *

Once they arrived at the hanger they crept slowly along the dark walls and Meiko motioned Trey to the Hatred, it had been repaired for Jumre since Uzumi wrecked it. Meiko had secretly rewritten the OS because of her paranoia about what Liene might have done to it. In the case of an override Trey and Yaro would be defenseless. She backed Trey up as they rushed toward the suit when the guards had passed.

"You take Yaro," Meiko whispered, "get him to the Eternal, I'm going to be fighting quite a bit out there."

"Okay," Trey responded when Yaro spoke up.

"Meiko I am so sorry," Yaro said to her. He had been wanting to apologize to her through the entire escape mission but they had kept moving. Since she was going into battle now he wanted her to know.

"There will be time for that later," Trey replied but Meiko gave him a sharp look because she knew in her hear that there wouldn't be time. She walked toward Yaro and their eyes met locked in pain together they saw what the other was feeling. Meiko saw Yaro's guilt and he saw her darkness. There was something there between them as they gazed at each other, all the pain they had endured since parting ways in ORB and all the doubts that they had replaying in their minds over and over. Meiko's breathing increased it's rhythm as she found herself finding it hard to do anything. The images playing over and over. The pain, guilt, hatred, suffering, accusing, brokenness and finally regret. They both felt that they didn't deserve the other and in everything they were the same. She held up her hand with something in it and he held up his hand to receive what she was giving him.

"This represents everything that I ever could have been," she whispered softly, "everything that I remember about the past that would have been mine had my mother chosen to stay with me that day. I've always had it and now I want you to take care of it. You will not be fighting this time Yaro, I just want you to know I don't blame you for anything." He looked in his hand and saw the heart necklace that Meiko had always worn, he had never seen her without it and today she placed it in his hands.

"You must know that I now understand that you didn't do it," Yaro said, "that Uzumi did not die by your hand. Meiko I lost myself out there, and I don't even know why but I saw the darkest side of myself and I didn't mean any of it." He was so filled with regret for everything that he had done, all the hatred that he had shown toward her when she needed him most. She had been very very broken in the event of Uzumi's death but he was just too blinded by his own dark heart to see past everything that he felt. He had lashed out and still she had not given up hope that she still had a chance for redemption, he wanted her to see everything he felt now. All the regret an all the apologies that he had for her.

"It's alright," she said slowly looking down and away from him, "I deserve your hatred and that you would find the strength to forgive me is enough. Just promise me that you'll live through all this Yaro. Promise me." He looked at her confused wondering why she didn't say that she would live through it as well.

"I promise," he replied, "just you promise me as well."

"I don't know what the future holds," she turned to Trey and pressed a piece of paper in his hands then turned back to Yaro, "but I know in my heart that somehow everything will turn out right." She stepped back as Trey nodded to her and she nodded back. He took a hold of Yaro and they both floated up toward the cockpit of the two boys quickly raised themselves up to the mobile suit and once they were almost inside a shot rang out through the hangar and Meiko felt a sharp pain in the back of her right shoulder and she let out a cry of pain reaching toward the area that hurt as suddenly something flashed before her eyes.

_"You were always meant for greater things." Words whispered by a female voice she recognized for some reason, "don't let it beat you! FIGHT Meiko!"_

"MEIKO!" Yaro yelled out as she suddenly came out of her trance and summoned the strength to flip out of the person's line of fire just as another bullet shot flew by her. She landed hard on her side and quickly got up. Her orientation was off from the pain that was flooding her but she knew what was important now and nothing would stop her.

"Trey go!" she yelled and Trey pushed Yaro into the mobile suit and jumped in after him knowing that Meiko could handle herslef and he needed to get Yaro to the Eternal so that the Clyne faction would know that now it was safe to attack. The Hatred shot out of the hangar leaving Meiko there to see that the person who had attacked was none other than John Liene.

"So this was your plan Meiko, did you really think that ORB would welcome you with open arms after what you did to Uzumi Zala?" his words expressed his hatred toward her now and she crouched behind cover hiding from anymore shots. She felt her warm blood seeping out of the wound in her right shoulder and knew that there was no time to bandage it up before she left. She had to get out of there, the Pain was behind her, she would just have to make a quick break for it. She heard a few more shots, bouncing off the cover she was behind. She grabbed her Gun and fired a few shots at a wide angle hoping the noise would make her aim seem more accurate that it was. She didn't dare peak out from her cover knowing that there were not enough shadows to do so and Liene was just waiting to shoot a killing shot this time.

"Liene we have to get out of here now!" she heard Mike's voice, "Yaro escaped which means the Eternal will be back in the battle soon."

"Not until Meiko Virea dies!" he yelled but she knew that he was distracted enough. She flipped out from her cover and made a break for the Pain dodging the shots of the guards and Liene and floating toward the cockpit at alarming speed.

"Not this time Liene," she yelled, "I choose my own path now, and I will decide when I die!" She closed the cockpit quickly and shot from the ship. She gripped her shoulder grunting in the pain that was flooding through her, she had been shot before but it had been along time since she had felt pain like this. No matter she would fight on this day her battle was leading her to her redemption.

* * *

"Thats her!" Kira declared as they watched the Pain finally exit the Prejudice, they had seen the Hatred and had no known what to think. Now Kira felt a slight relief at seeing that the Pain had gotten out but he knew it was not over yet.

"Level one battle stations!" Lacus declared, "but do not attack until we get confirmation that Yaro is with those two mobile suits. Kira was about to rush to the Freedom when he saw it suddenly, twelve mobile suits and three robotics launched from the Prejudice along with a large group of shuttles which headed toward the other ROW ships in the area. The ship had indeed gone down and they were evacuating it but instead of heading toward the STING the shuttles headed for a smaller ship. He then jumped off the bridge and toward the Freedom, he knew Meiko could handle those enemies but the battle was about to begin and this time ROW was running out of options.

* * *

Meiko tried to move her right arm but it was very hard, she winced in pain as she grasped the controls with her right hand, this was not good. She had to resist, to endure this pain and keep fighting. She saw enemies coming toward her and moved to fight them but Trey got their first destroying the first mobile suit.

"Formation E12," Trey said and Meiko smiled, she had missed fighting alongside him. They moved together with swiftness using their tactics to fight off the three ROW suits that attacked him, disarming one and destroying the other two. Amidst it all Trey realized that Meiko was more sluggish than usual and he attributed it to her hurt right shoulder. Anger filled him when he had realized that Liene had shot Meiko while her back was turned and he hadn't even seen it coming. He was just glad that Liene's aim was off and he didn't succeed in killing her. Yaro was behind his seat in a cramped position and he knew that all the jolting around didn't help Yaro's recovery from the electric batons.

"Trey get Yaro to the Eternal," he heard Meiko say through his radio and he realized her breathing had increased, she was in more pain than she was letting on. He wasn't sure he could just leave her out here.

"You're hurt Meiko," Trey replied, "I can't leave you to fight alone."

"Meiko you come with us!" Yaro said quickly and Trey looked at him with reassurance.

"No," Meiko responded stubbornly, she had something she had to do first and she couldn't allow them to be caught in the crossfire of it all. She knew that Trey would understand now but Yaro wouldn't because Trey had been a ROW solider he knew what measures they needed to go to now and he wouldn't stop her, "get back to the Eternal and tell them to flee, get them all out of here Trey! All of them!" In that moment Trey realized what was going on, it was her plan all along to end it all.

"Meiko are you sure?" he knew better than to argue with her, especially now. Her mind was very clear and she had one focus, nothing he said would sway her, it was too late to change her mind. It was too late to save her. The girl he knew had changed so much since the battlefield and even in the past few hours, her goals were singular and her heart was clear.

"Just get them out of here Trey," she yelled, "this is your time now, for the sake of the world we love!"

"What is she doing?" Yaro asked frantically. He knew something was up by the expressions on the two ex-ROW pilot's faces but he didn't know what. They were both acting strange and something told him that he would not agree with what was happening now.

"Rodger," Trey said accepting that Meiko's fate was in her own hands, he turned the Hatred around and shot toward the Eternal.

"What is she doing!" Yaro yelled this time as the Eternal was closer and closer but Trey didn't respond. He had been chose to carry out a mission by Meiko Virea and he would complete it. He nodded his head at her image as it faded away knowing very well that he would have chosen a different path for her than the one that she chose for herself.

"Eternal this is Trey Likra Day," he spoke quickly, "I am on your side, I have Yaro Yamato with me as you can see he is right behind me, we are requesting entrance into your ship. I repeat I have Yaro Yamato with me and I am requesting permission to board your vessel." Yaro still looked horrified behind him as the possibilities of what Meiko was planning started going through his head and Trey rolled his eyes at the idea that he hadn't yet picked up on what was going on with Meiko. She had been told her whole life that she was nothing and today she wanted to be remembered for being something more, of course she would go out with a bigger bang than anyone else in the past for she would have it no other way.

"You are granted permission to enter," he saw Lacus Clyne's face on his screen, "thank you for bringing Yaro back to us."

* * *

Kira launched the freedom quickly as the ROW forces began to gather themselves. It was as if they had not realized what was going on and Kira guessed it was because of the situation of the Prejudice was in without power and a way to contact the fleet. He jumped into the battle surprised that there were only a few enemies and relieved that Lacus had told him Yaro was safe aboard the Eternal. Trusting Meiko had paid off after all and she had brought their son back to them. Now he saw her fighting differently than before, as if something was holding her back as she moved much more forcefully than ever before. He flew into the battle jumping in behind her blocking a shot that would have damaged her suit.

"Seems I am in your debt now," Kira said to her as their enemies were momentarily defeated. He heard her take a sharp breath over the radio.

"Just get me to the STING!" she said desperately, "we have to destroy it!"

"Your hurt!" he declared as he realized why she sounded so pained and why her fighting was not as effortless as usual, something had happened while she was still in the prejudice.

"Liene shot my right shoulder," she said with a grunt of pain, "but it's alright, I just have to get to the core reactor of the STING, just trust me and help me, please Kira I need you to do this for the sake of the world now." He knew that she was resolved by the sound of her voice but he did not understand what she was planning on doing. His own emotions were very mixed at the moment as he felt relief that Yaro was okay, strength now that their forces were once again fighting and confusion based on what this girl was telling him. He felt as though something was about to happen beyond his control of for some reason it was like his inner being was telling him to stop it. Something about Meiko Virea made him wonder who she really was and what she was planning, she wanted to get to the core reactor of the STING but he had no idea what she could do once she got there. He would have no choice but to trust her at this moment, she had been a part of ROW so she probably knew their machine better than anyone else that was on his side.

"I trust you Meiko," he replied he then followed the Pain through the battlefield joining the fight for Meiko's redemption.

* * *

"So Meiko pulled through after all?" Meyrin said in surprise over what was taking place around them, "I guess that we doubted for nothing."

"Don't back down now," Kiran said, "Yaro may be safe but we still have to deal with the STING, so in a way none of us are really safe." As he spoke suddenly a blast came from the STING and missed them by a long shot but it hit right into the ORB forces.

"I really wish you weren't right this time," Alicesia said to him with a worried look on her face.

* * *

"Destiny Launching!"

"Impulse Launching!"

The two mobile suits launched into space from the Minerva together and looked in awe as the ROW forces sluggishly entered the battlefield. Something was up and there appeared to be a lot of confusion in the ranks of their enemies. Lunamaria smiled at this knowing that today they finally had the upper hand on the battlefield.

"I guess now we should apologize to Kira," Luna said to Shinn as they entered the battlefield, "we got him all riled up for nothing!" They turned to see then something very astonishing to them both; the fluidity of a team working together. Kira and Meiko's mobile suits were perfectly playing off each others moves, their strengths and weaknesses fighting as a true team as if they were connected by something more than a drive to win. It was teamwork that rivaled the teamwork Shinn had seen between Kira and Athrun who when paired together were unstopable. This was slightly different, Kira and Meiko were riveting to watch. Enemies just fell to their power as they made their way toward the STING.

"Did you see that coming?" Shinn heard Luna's voice and he knew that she saw it as well. For two people who had no background and who had never fought together before it was more than impressive. "Do you think we should help them?"

"I don't think they need our help," Shinn replied, "let's pick off some ROW ships!" Luna seemed to respond well to this as they quickly fought their way through the battlefield.

* * *

"Get all our main forces out there!" Liene ordered as soon as he made it to the bridge of one of his Mirage ships, they were built for speed and but this time they would have to rule the battlefield. With Meiko's escape and the trouble on the Prejudice the ROW ships weren't sure what was going on so some of them had not responded to the battle emerging, now that Liene was taking command once again things had begun to heat up. "Fire the STING the way you see fit!" he ordered the general that was stationed inside the large super ship.

"Rodger," the man said with a slick smile. Liene was on edge and everyone saw it, today he had lost Meiko and he wanted her dead more than anything but he also knew what might happen on this battlefield and he dreaded it. He watched in anger as the Freedom and the Pain fought side by side but he noticed that the Freedom was a few steps ahead of the Pain, not as closely matched as usual and a bit of hope that his plans weren't at a loss rose within him. He had succeeded in hurting Meiko enough to weaken her fighting and now he wondered if she was getting weaker by the minute. He had poisoned the bullet that hit her and he knew that as time went on she would slip deeper and deeper into darkness, it wasn't a fatal poison but he doubted that she could fight off it's weakening effects. A small smile crept to his lips at this when Gilligan came to stand next to him.

"You see her trajectory?" Gilligan asked pointing toward the Pain then toward the main reactor of the STING, "and you know what will happen if she gets there don't you? She blames herself and no longer cares for life, you know what she will do." Liene stopped for a moment thinking about it, if Meiko were to destroy his weapon then he would be set back but at this point his plans had already changed entirely.

"If she makes it and I stress the If Gilligan," Liene began, "then we will flee. But for now send the three right mirages, we need to take out the Eternal!"

* * *

Both their seeds had exploded and both were moving at an incredible pace. Even with her wound Meiko was a strong force as ROW tried to send more and more units and tried to fire missiles and blasts from their ships the Freedom and the Pain kept going. It was as if there was some invisible force driving them on, willing them to win against all the odds. Nothing could take them on as they fought together for the same goal, for the destruction of the STING and the win of the battlefield.

Meiko had never felt so much resolve inside of her, so much life, it seemed to fight off the wound that was trying to oppress her and she knew that today her sacrifice would change the world for she was giving of herself for the lives of others. Today she was not only fighting for her own freedom but for the freedom and safety of the whole world. Her mobile suit was made to inflict pain but today she turned it around to bring life. Today things were different. Today she would win. Kira felt the life in her words when they spoke and he knew that this Meiko was different than the Meiko he had met on the cliffs in ORB. She was no longer afraid, no longer blaming herself she was taking over everything.

* * *

"There are three ROW Mirage class ships breaking off from the rest!" Leyas declared looking at her screen, "They are heading toward us!" Lacus gasped in surprise, they had held back their ships last time because of the STING, could this mean they were not firing it or that they didn't care about their ships!"

"Two were intercepted by the Tranquility and another ORB class ship," another bridge member declared, "but one is firing long range missiles!"

"Intercept them!" Lacus yelled as a blast rocked the ship back and fort and she gripped her chair.

"Too late!" Andrew Waltfeld declared, "evasive maneuvers fire back, aim for the engines! Send out anti beam flares, fire a barrage of bullets! Don't let anything else get through!" The crew on the bridge scrambled fighting off the ships attack and fighting the different mobile suits it was sending toward them but they knew that this ship was not giving up! It was also a very fast ship which they were not used to.

"They are locking on to us with their main cannons!" Leyas declared, "and ours have been weakened by the power we've been using!" Everyone gasped as the ship moved closer and closer toward them. They all held their breath as the cannons charged up and Leyas cried out and Yaro who had just come to the bridge looked horrified at what was happening. This couldn't happen, the Eternal could not be destroyed so easily! Where were the other Clyne faction and ORB ships? This couldn't happen.

Everyone was braced for a blast that never did happen instead they were amazed as they watched a beam tear right through the large mirage ship and they all looked to see who had come to their rescue when a transmission came to them and they saw the face of someone they didn't expect.

"Looks like we made it just in time Eternal," Murrue Ramius said, "are you all alright?"

"Captain Ramius!" Lacus Clyne declared as they saw the Archangel on their monitors in all it's glory.

* * *

"This is Athrun Zala, Justice launching!" Athrun yelled as the Infinite Justice soared onto the battlefield. After Jeffery's speech in ORB Athrun had realized that it was time to follow his son's example and get back up off his feet. Uzumi had died fighting ROW and Athrun knew he wanted Justice and that he would never get it if he just stayed in ORB. It was a path to a different kind of revenge than he had ever seen before for he was not mindless but very focused on his goals. This day he would fight once again, not for his sake but for the sake of the nation of ORB and for the memory of his oldest son who lived the life of a champion and died the death of a hero.

Along with Athrun and the Archangel there was a new ORB mobile suit with two pilots in it. Jacob Gladys and Mu La Flaga fought together in the Vision, a versatile ORB unit that looked kinda bulky but was very effective.

"Let's take them out!" Athrun heard Jacob Gladys say and he smiled as the two units attacked the ROW force that was trying to take down the Eternal and Clyne faction ships. They had arrived on time for that. Now the battle was in full swing but the end was in sight and Athrun saw the same thing everyone else did, the two mobile suits working together perfectly toward the reactor of the STING. Athrun did not understand what they were planning but he could feel that this battle was near and end and he knew that those two would make it happen.

* * *

"The Freedom and the Pain have broken past our main defenses and are taking down the weapons and towers defending the STING's main reactor!" A bridge member declared and Liene felt it in his stomach that the end was near. Kira and Meiko should never have met in the first place and he knew that he should have prevented this more thoroughly, he would not be able to stop them now yet he knew that if the STING went down so would he and if he didn't escape ROW would end.

"Tell this ship and a few others to break away from the main ranks and station themselves in the back," Liene ordered calmly, "if the others question tell them to keep fighting on and that we are going to go for re-enforcements." Mike caught exactly what Liene was doing, everything would be blamed on Meiko, nothing more and nothing less. Liene would step out like the coward he was and retreat to the safety of a stronger force that waited for him. His plans were not stopped like this but rather stalled for just a short while. Mike knew that Liene was not happy with the way things played out but he didn't have any way of changing that and he was not stupid, in fact it was his brilliance that engineered this plan that was just reaching it's height. ROW was failing this stage but it was minor when all their victories were considered.

"Meiko won't let go Liene," Mike spoke softly now thinking of the girl that he had taken care of and the path she had chosen, "she'll hunt you down."

"Not when she realizes that she won't be able to go through with her plans," Liene replied more calmly than Mike expected, "for she will have to choose between her new friends and herself and with Jumre Krey's interference I think we all know which path she will take." Mike looked out to the battlefield in horror realizing what Liene had done. Realizing that he had failed.

* * *

Trey floated onto the bridge of the Eternal in distress, he had read Meiko's note explaining her plan in full and he knew that it was a dangerous one. She wanted to destroy the STING reactor with the Pain's main guns because she believed that the Pain was fast enough to escape the explosion, he had expected something like this and now that he knew he was correct he knew what it was she really wanted him to do. The Eternal crew looked at him with strange expressions still not understanding who he was and why he had helped them but he knew there would be time for that later, now he had to concentrate on explaining everything.

"Lacus Clyne," he said her name and she stood up to face him.

"We are in combat right now!" she said sternly, "until this battle is over I suggest you hold off anything you need to say."

"This can't wait!" He protested holding up his hands in mock surrender, "this is life and death! You have to get all of your forces to pull back away from the STING!"

"We're so close to beating them," Waltfeld commented, "why would we want to pull back now and how do we know that we can trust you?" Yaro suddenly floated to his side giving Trey an assuring look and turning to his mother and his family friend.

"He was a captive aboard the ROW ships," Yaro spoke with authority, "he helped Meiko save my life, we wouldn't have gotten far without him! You have to trust him, he knows more about this than any of us." Lacus listened to Yaro speak in suprise, she hadn't heard him talk with assurance in so long. He had been filled with so much doubt in the past week that her heart hurt for him but Kira had told her that so many had already talked to him but he wasn't listening to them. Now his mind seemed to still bear confusion but he wasn't letting it win.

"Speak then Trey and hurry!" She said loudly.

"You need to pull the ships back because Meiko is going to destroy the STING's main reactor!" Trey blurted out and everyone on the bridge gasped in shock. They all knew exactly what that meant as Lacus had explained to them why her forces were not taking that course of action. The whole battlefield would be ablaze and everyone near the explosion would be incinerated.

"She'd never get out in time!" Waltfeld declared.

"The Pain is built for speed," Trey announced, "she believes that she will. She told me to get you all out of here, there is no other way to stop them!"

"Then order our forces to start pulling back!" Lacus declared urgently, if this was the course Meiko was taking she knew that she would have to act quickly, "warn the Archangel, a decent to earth is our best bet! We have to get out of here!"

* * *

Athrun looked up in surprise as the broadcast from Lacus reached him and everyone else. He had barely participated in this battle and it now seemed like it was ending, something he would have never predicted as he watched many of the ORB and Clyne faction mobile suits moving close to their ships. Everyone was preparing to descend to earth and it was quite a shocking scene, it was then that he noticed a group of ROW ships fleeing the battlefield as well and wondered if they knew what was happening as well.

He saw Kira and Meiko fighting side by side and he couldn't help but still feel a bit of resentment toward the girl. It would be hard for him to forgive her because he believed she could have saved Uzumi but there was no time for regrets now. He moved fast and quickly targeted a large group of ROW robotics with his targeting computer and blasted them with his weapons. This battle would be over very soon now, very soon.

* * *

Meiko nodded her head in assurance as she saw the ORB and Clyne faction forces gathering to leave the battlefield as she had requested Trey to ask them to. It was getting close to the end and she knew she would need all the strength left within her but she wasn't sure what she would be able to do now. The poison Liene had shot into her was eating through her and this next move would be very risky. She quickly blasted a robotic unit with her main cannon as she saw Kira's dragoons swirling around the rest of the units, they were so very close now.

"I'll handle the rest Meiko go for it!" Kira yelled and Meiko quickly weaved her mobile suit through the units with unmatched speed reaching the reactor and moving her mobile suit behind it. She had made it and here no one would fire on her because they wouldn't want that reactor to explode.

"Get out of here now Yamato," she said quickly.

"I thought we were destroying this thing together?" Kira declared in a questioning voice and she saw that the Freedom had destroyed all the units and was now beside her.

"You know that the explosion would engulf the battlefield," Meiko said desperately, "you won't make it in time unless you leave now!"

"What about you?" he asked wondering how she planned on getting out.

"The pain was built for speed," she began, "i have more of a chance of making it than you! You have to keep trusting me, I know what I am doing!" She shut off her radio for a second as she gasped at the pain that had somehow begun to flood her entire body. For some reason the poison within her was moving quickly and she had no way of knowing whether or not it was fatal but she knew that as long as she breathed she still had a chance to fight it off.

"I understand," Kira said reluctantly, he did now know why but part of him felt a danger coming on for the girl in the green and black mobile suit. He didn't know why but he felt as if he had to protect her from this but he wasn't sure what he could do now. She was going to destroy the STING and hopefully they would all make it out alive, he turned and saw that the ORB and Clyne faction forces were fleeing and he was sure that she had made sure that they knew what she was planning. Luckily the STING was a very sluggish machine and getting it out of the battlefield would be hard leaving them with the perfecto opportunity to destroy a large mass of the ROW forces that were still trying to protect it.

"Now go!" Meiko pushed, "GO!" He quickly turned the freedom from the area and blasted toward the Clyne faction and ORB ships. Meiko sighed with relief as she saw that now her life was the only one in the balance. She quickly whirled her mobile suit about the large reactor structure and targeted all her main weapons firing three times and draining a lot of the power in her mobile suit. The blasts cleared and she felt shock at the sight of the reactor still in tact. She fired again twice more and saw that her mobile suit performance was getting low because of the repeated blasts and still the reactor only showed slight signs of damage. She would need a much larger explosion, like a nuclear bomb to destroy this thing.

"DAMN IT!" she yelled firing once again and turning to see the ships fleeing. Pain wracked through her as sweat formed on her brow and she began to feel the pain trying to pull her under. She shook her head as she thought about what was important now. She had spent her entire life in pain and inflicting pain upon others. Her time in ORB had taught her about life and the light that she could have, Uzumi had saved her from everything by offering her a second chance and here she had taken it. She couldn't give up now. There was still a chance for her to prove herself to the world.

To prove that she deserved redemption. She gripped the controls of the Pain and flew it as close to the reactor as possible as images of her life washed through her and her eyes opened with absolute resolve. She saw the slight violet glow issuing forth from her eyes and filling the cockpit of her mobile suit. It was around everything she saw now, a glow, her light. Now was her time, her chance to show the world who she really was. She did not deserve life so she would not have it now as she started typing codes into her mobile suit OS she became more and more assured that this was the right path for her to take. A slight fear tried to enter her but she fought it back only allowing resolve and guilt to plague her now. She only had this chance left, this one chance to save the world and to gain her redemption. Her death would be nothing compared to the life that she would save with this act. Her life was worth nothing and had never been for she never knew herself until this day.

"I'm not real," she whispered to herself, "and if that's who I was born to be then so be it."

* * *

"Meiko's attempts to destroy the STING aren't working!" Leyas declared as they saw that the Pain had stopped firing on machine.

"What is she doing?" Lacus asked frantically as they watched the Pain float close to the reactor and stop for some reason. Athrun who had just boarded the Eternal watched as the machine did not move and Trey's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

"NO!" he yelled clenching his fists and everyone turned to him.

"What is she doing?" Lacus asked once again and all eyes were on Trey who had tears in his own eyes as he felt a dread wash over him. Just looking at Trey made Yaro see everything that was happening. He turned to the screen once again completely shocked by what he felt inside and what he knew was about to take place. This couldn't be happening, it shouldn't be happening! He jumped up toward Leyas grabbing her headset for radio communication.

"She's going to self destruct the Pain!" Trey blurted out completely shocking everyone on the bridge. Terror was ignited in Yaro's heart at the thought. He had just gotten himself back and he had just seen a chance for everything to get better but Meiko was just going to give up her life and everything that they could have. He couldn't allow this to happen, not after he had done so many things wrong in the past few days. Meiko was everything to him now because of all that they had gone through, all the darkness, all the pain and all the doubt. Everything had led to this moment and he had been blind to it all until now.

"But she'll never make it!" Leyas declared, "she's condemning herself to death!"

"MEIKO STOP!" Yaro yelled into the communications.

* * *

"MEIKO!" It was a voice she never expected to hear again as she started entering the final code sequence into her mobile suit main frame. Tears filled her eyes at the sound of his voice and her heart felt the pain of knowing that there was so much she would never see. But this was her path now, her choice, her sacrifice. She counted her life as worthless next to the lives of those she wanted to protect and that was the reason why she had risked everything for them, the reason why she had abandoned ROW and broken free from her fear. Now she had a chance to make up for all the wrongs and she would take it, no one could decide this for her. She opened up her radio channel to the Eternal speaking what she felt would be her final words.

"I have no other choice," she said with a blank expression as she saw on the bridge the faces of those she would protect, "this is my moment. My bid for redemption because I have lived a life of darkness; today I will embrace it and find my light." They saw her eyes filled with Seed mode and the felt the strength issuing forth from her words.

"But Meiko we'll find some other way!" Yaro yelled desperately, "you don't have to do this!" She bowed her head as tears filled her eyes and she looked up yelling.

"I have to do this, not just for all of you but for myself. I have to believe that even I can do something that will matter in eternity." She was almost done with the code sequence, it would all be over soon.

"MEIKO DON'T!" Yaro yelled.

"Promise me you won't let this defeat you Yaro," she spoke back with a desperate plea, "promise me you'll embrace your own light!"

"How can I promise you that?" He questions, "how do I go on?"

"You'll find a way," she whispered the last words she would ever speak, "for as Uzumi said he would never really leave me I will never really leave you. I will always be here alongside you. It's all going to be alright, just like he said. Just like Uzumi promised me. Goodbye Yaro, goodbye." She shut off her radio now but she felt in her mind that he was crying out for her as she typed in the final sequence and leaned her head back. It would not be long now. Not long. She felt a presence next to her and heard a voice inside her head, calling her name.

_"Meiko, Meiko, I'll always be here," _Uzumi's voice, _"Your destiny is not complete!"_

"I know," she whispered as a bright violet glow engulfed her and darkness took her.

* * *

"MEIKO!" Yaro yelled as the whole fleet and the whole world saw it. The explosion of the Pain's nuclear reactor had succeeded, the explosion of the STING warship had begun as the light of flames echoed through the sky.

"DOWN DOWN DOWN!" Lacus yelled as all the ORB ships were hurrying down toward earth, "Where is Kira!" She cried out desperately as a crew member put it up on the monitor, the freedom flying fast toward them.

"Lacus I am going to re-enter on my own!" Kira declared as his face appeared on the screen, "I'll make it, don't worry about me just focus on getting yourself out of here! Stay safe Lacus! She saw the Freedom making a trajectory toward ORB and knew she had to trust him now, the machine was built to be able to re-enter but with the STING exploding behind them everything was more dangerous. On top of that the crew was shocked by the sacrifice they had just witnessed and as tears filled Lacus's own eyes by what she had seen she stood up with courage and saluted the girl. The ex-ROW agent who only ever wanted peace. Leyas held onto her older brother as he cried tears of sorrow.

It was an emptiness that had filled him in that moment and Leyas knew it would be slow to heal. Yaro Yamato had never felt so much pain, Uzumi was gone forever and now Meiko had sacrificed herself. He was alone, he was broken and he felt that he would never recover. Darkness filled his heart as he held on tightly to the heart necklace Meiko had given him, his last memory of her.

* * *

It was not the end. It could not be the end. A slight smile crept to her face as she felt a presence in her mind. A new power had awoken and soon, very soon her plans would reach their height. What fear she had was erased by the pain she heard in her mind and heart. Every fiber in her being reached out to what she felt and she knew that though things appeared one way on the outside they were really the way she wanted them to be. Everything that was happening were things that she had predicted and though she had wished them preventable they were not. She fastened her white mask on once again as she walked onto the bridge and took her seat. Her crew members all watched her grimly knowing that this next mission had no chance of success yet their leader believed in it so they would follow her.

"Launch all SR units once the fire has cleared and get the Honor out there," she spoke word with authority, "I feel her, and I know that we must succeed."

The presence brushed her mind once again and she knew exactly what was taking place, the presence was crying out for help, help from her. Their connection was deeper than anything that Milady had ever felt and longed to feel it more for she had missed way too much. Time had not been on her side, life had not been on her side and she had been forced to make terrible choices but now nothing else mattered but this. This redemption, this last chance that she had to set the world right once again, the chance she would take.

She turned away as the units launched picturing the events that had led to now, "Meiko please forgive me." She whispered those words into the air knowing that time was of the essence and with each minute that passed the risk increased.

* * *

**I find it really funny that a lot of you have predicted that Trey would die within the past few chapters. No Trey still has a role to play in the story and in the life of another character so he lives on. Now to Meiko the war between darkness and light has led to something unimaginable don't worry about the story's continuation there is plenty more.**

**The next chapter will be more emotional: Phase 12: Meiko Virea  
**

**Next in the story I am entering the third arch so Yaro's character is going to be explored more and that will lead us into the fourth and final arch of Gundam Seed Redemption wich will be followed up by Gundam Seed Immortal. I'm very excited about what is coming next, the fourth arch contains a chapter that I really can't wait to write that will reveal a lot about our main characters. Meiko Virea is still a main character and that is all I am going to say. I would love to tell you what is going to happen next but you'll have to read on because that's the way it works! Thanks for sticking with me this far and I hope you enjoy the coming ride.**

**Thanks to **ShyRose (), Fenikkusumaru, Capt Freedom, Byron Lancaster, SamuraiGundam (), survivor18 (), **and **Joker Oak **for the reviews. To everyone who hasn't been reviewing I think you should start! JUST REVIEW! You can do it! REVIEW!**

**-WinterChill  
**


	24. Meiko Virea

**This chapter is up fast because I wrote it the day I started the story so I just made a few minor adjustments to it and here it is!**

**It's a lot shorter but still a little crucial, a transition chapter!  
**

Phase 23: Meiko Virea

* * *

I sat there in that moment watching a counter turn and I saw my life flash before my eyes. Do you blame me for ending it all? Do you blame me for the things I have done? Do you blame me for all those who have killed or been killed? For I have been so easy to blame my entire life. The only comfort I ever took is that maybe one day I would die and it would all be over but something had always kept me from pointing a gun at myself but now I was finally free to end it, to end all of it.

When I was a child I used to look outside at the sunset wherever I was posted in the world and wish that I would die in my sleep and that this sunset I was watching would be the last one my eye would ever have to see. As I grew older I began to wish that the promise of the sun would be real in my life, that maybe a light would shine on me and save me.

It's all coming back to me now that it's almost over. I do not deserve the love of those that have come into my life but still they give it to me so unselfishly. What is it that has brought them to this? Uzumi didn't give up on me even though I had destroyed every protection around him, leaving him vulnerable and easy to kill. Yaro may have fought to destroy me but in that last instance he began to see me for who I really was and he still loved me. Something about me had captivated him, something even I haven't unveil. Is it that I am a good person though I have done so many wrong things? Was there something within me that was ultimately filled with light? If there is it must be a genetic force that I have no control of.

"MEIKO!" As he broke through, one last moment in time as I floated into nothingness. The moment when my poor lost soul was finally freed. Would I really find freedom in this death or would my spirit forever be wandering searching for redemption? Would destroying this monster of a machine and weapon finally atone for all the other things I had done or was it only the beginning of a stream of mad attempts to end it all? Would I go on, even in death? Or would I be freed? And the final question one I've tried not to think about, what if I survive?

I fought for so long. So hard. I lived a life of fear and danger trying so hard to understand the reasons why I was born into this world and now I can see so clearly. I lived in blindness, not that any of it was my fault.

I grew up in ROW always trying to have a normal life but then being forced into something else. I have one memory of my mother. I remember when I was a small child she came to me one day with something in her hand. She tenderly placed the heart necklace around my neck and kissed my forehead before turning and walking slowly out of the nursurey. She had so many tears in her eyes and I didn't understand anything back then. I remember crying and lifting my arms to her come and hold me but she never even turned to look at me. I couldn't follow her for I couldn't even walk so I just sat there crying. After that I remember people commenting that I learned how to walk quicker than most babies. Some people who knew me then said I would often run out of the nursery and scream for my mommy to come back but she never came. I never knew her and I never even thought about my father because I had no memory of him at all.

There had been no one to comfort me in that time, which is perhaps the reason why I never really got close to anyone. I was afraid that they would leave me alone. I didn't trust anyone, even those to reached out to me because besides my mother there was Daniel and he had died to protect me a a child. He had defied Liene because he wanted me to live and he died as well. No one ever stayed very long in my life so I never expected them to which is why Uzumi's stubbornness finally broke through to me, because even in the end he never really left me.

When I was first sent on that mission to take down the eternal I thought it was just another mission but as I fought the ship I felt the unfailing resilience and faith of the people inside it. I couldn't bring myself to fight my hardest to destroy the ship because I had never felt anything so pure in my whole life. I longed for that purity and I felt it in the someone strange and familiar minds that touched mine.

In my spare time between battles I researched Lacus Clyne and the more I discovered the more I realized why Liene wanted her dead. She was what he would call and Idealist as she called for complete peace and restoration of the world in alliance and the end of war. Liene believed that war could only end when people took up arms and destroyed their enemies. But who were their enemies? That was something I could never understand. Did I, Meiko Virea, a child solider, a little girl have any enemies? I was most certainly the enemies of some but I never hated anyone except myself until Uzumi's death when I realized the truth. I hadn't even hated Liene or Manchester, I had felt sorry for them because of the seemingly empty lives they were leading. In a way I saw my own emptiness in their actions. They lashed out against things that they disliked while I let my dislikes continue to go on.

But I'd give it all away, everything I am. Everything I am for something more

Needless to say no one was ever there for me until I met Trey but even then I never let him be there for me. I didn't want to hurt anyone so I tried so hard to distance myself from them. When I went to ORB I was sure that it was a good thing because it would give me time to get away from Trey and it would give me time to understand my existence. While there all I found was confusion. I met Leyas, Uzumi and then I met Yaro. They were all good people, like I had never known before. Yaro had reached out to me as more than a friend and I had fallen into him arms before long. He made everything that I had hated so much about life disappear and in those moments I felt as if though I was someone more than Meiko the killer. I felt as though I could face anything in the world and though I would always have someone there beside me. I felt that life meant something more than just fighting, I began to see that in life you fall but there are always those who can catch you and set things right for you. I found it hard to believe I had gone on so long without that sense of security. Yaro gave me the love and peace I had wanted for my entire life and in my need to feel loved I had accepted it. I had been selfish in not thinking about what an attachment to him might cause, but I honestly didn't know I would ever have to face him or Uzumi on the battlefield.

It was before that battle that Liene had given me the new S System that would shape my complete destiny. When fighting with the S System I had no idea who I was anymore, I saw things that I couldn't explain and I went mad. It was terrorizing my soul and breaking my mind. The harder I tried to fight it the stronger it became. I almost killed Yaro, and then Uzumi broke through; in that moment the S System lost it's potency and I mastered my own mind because I truely did care about them. I stopped fighting Uzumi until Liene took complete artificial control and destroyed the one person who was able to convince me of the light within myself. I tried so hard to stop my actions as soon as I realize what was happening but the control Liene had over me through the beta of the S System was too much for me to handle as I underwent the emotional turmoil of thinking that I had caused Uzumi's death.

Uzumi tried to help me fight Liene's control as he began to realize what was going on through my frantic messages. In the end he couldn't break Liene's control over the Pain and my weapons. He was destroyed as I lost everything I had ever believed in. I had never wanted to fight but in that moment I realized the truth of what Mike had once tried so hard to tell me, I was the master of my destiny and I had a choice in how to live my life.

With that I choose...

The lonely road that will lead me farther from home.

I choose to willingly give my life.

I choose to save all those who I know believe in truth

I choose to be somebody.

I choose redemption.

I choose to erase the past.

I choose to bury my heart.

I choose to die.

For the world.

For myself.

Mostly for Yaro.

I was destined to be the greatest as many people said but I didn't want that destiny anymore. I'd give it all away just to have somewhere to run to, just to have someone to go home to. But I have no one and I never have had anyone. If I had left ROW earlier where would I have ended up? I would never have found my own light. So now I wonder what my life would have been like had my mother never left me. Had Liene never owned me.

Will my legacy go on? Is this the end forever, those moment that I live now? Or does it go on from here into a never ending journey of renewing. All I know is in this moment I am redeemed, I have killed in the past but today I kill one last time. I kill myself in order to allow all others to live.

I Meiko Virea look down on the world one last time and finally feel joy; and I can smile. I die free.

In this final moment one more question crosses my mind, and as the violet light envelops me I realized something more has awakened. I am succumbing to unconsciousness because of the poison, I realize I'm not dying I'm flying. Something is changing around me and this violet light is around me. As my eyes close and I fade to black I can't help but wonder; will I survive? Where will I go and what will I do if I survive?

* * *

Lacus Clyne looked around her in anxiety. The Eternal had successfully made it to ORB territory along with quite a few of the other ships. She was alive but the full report of who was lost and who was not had not come in yet. Lunamaria and Shinn had boarded the Eternal but now the Minerva was among those who were missing and her son Kiran was abroad that ship. It was a hard time for them all realizing what was happening and acting according to what was going on. The STING's destruction had not only caused the death of quite a few of the ROW ships and some of her own but the devastation was more widespread than that. It seemed a few fragments of the machine had hit earth, one smaller one had even landed in ORB.

When Meiko Virea decided to destroy the machine she must not have realized that something like this would happen. On top of everything else the Freedom barely made it to earth, Kira had survived and was now in the medical bay but the damage to the machine was considerable. He had been the closest one to the explosion and he had descended to earth while being exposed to the high heat of the STING. All this made her wonder what had become of the ROW troops and if any of them had really made it out alive.

"Lacus," she turned to see Andrew Waltfeld standing there.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Lady Cagalli and the council of ORB have given us permission to leave the ship," he said, "and Athrun wishes that you would go up to the mansion and wait for news of the Minerva."

"And what of the damage to the world around us?" Lacus asked, "are we to just wait and see what happens when all this is over?" She had watched an explosion the likes of she had not seen. The damage would be nothing compared to the Junius seven drop but she was sure that some nations would be effected. ROW had gone too far in creating that ship and they had thought of no one but themselves.

"Many radio lines are being effected by the interference of the debris in that atmosphere," he responded feeling his own anger about the whole situation they were in, "but we know things are due to clear up soon."

"Very good," Lacus replied, "tell Athrun that I will come up to the mansion after I have checked in on Kira, and tell them to notifiy me the minute we hear from the Minerva."

* * *

"Status report," Meyrin Hawke stood up examining her shaken crew. They had barely made it out of the blast without Shinn and Lunamaria and had landed somewhere in Lord knows where. She wondered how she would make it back to ORB without her two mobile suits, if they were attacked they would have problems.

"It seems our engines are fine but we have taken some damage," Kiran said reading off the report, "once the radio waves calm down we can figure out where we are. As it is now there is too much debris in the atmosphere and all around to figure it out." Meyrin clenched her fists thinking about it, she was in a tight situation with her crew but luckily she had Kira Yamato's son with her, she knew he would prove valuable in getting out of this situation. She examined the rest of the faces of her crew and smiled not wanting to seem to distressed.

"Well once we figure that out we will be able to head straight for ORB," she said with a cheerful voice but no one was fooled, their situation was not a good one.

* * *

"Milady," she turned to see Gren Trias standing behind her and she smiled at her young agent. He had been monitoring the work of the SR units for the past hour. She was anxious at the time that had passed and as the presence she felt had faded she wondered if they were already too late.

"Yes Gren?" she asked anxiously.

"The Honor has returned with the SR units," he began with a cheerful look that gave her hope, "and they found it." Her face lit up at the news.

"And is everything..." he cut her off.

"Mission success!" She held her hands up to her mouth as joy filled her, all the worry and all the doubt for nothing. Her mission was a success and everything had led to this.

* * *

**Short and Sweet and I've met my summer target! YES I am so excited that I made it this far!**

**There's a lot going on in the story and my school starts in a few weeks so I am going to try and get to a better stopping point before then but once school hit's there is no telling how things will be.**

**Thanks for the REVIEWS and keep REVIEWING! REVIEW!**

**-WinterChill  
**


	25. A Broken World

**Arch three begins! **

**Sorry for the wait, it's been hard to switch gears from total action to a more informative set up style once again. The last chapter was a closure of that arch and a bit of foreshadowing of what is to come. This chapter will set up the political scene and the paths of a few characters.**

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* * *

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Phase 24: A Broken World

* * *

It was real. Everything was real. He wasn't dreaming. It all had happened and now Meiko Virea was gone. Forever gone.

It should have been darkness all around but in the aftermath of the terrible moment something else overtook him. Everyone who passed by him as he sat there alone beside the wreckage of his father's gundam gave him sympathetic looks but none of them really understood what it felt like. Where he thought he would feel a deep depression he was shocked to find himself surprisingly calm. He had gone through too much loosing his cousin and his close friend to the battlefield of ROW. It was as if everything around him told him that he had every reason to break and to destroy all that was left of who he was but he could not do it. For letting himself be numb to it all or letting himself succumb to it would only lead him to greater heartache. He saw everything clearly how. In his hands he held the simple heart necklace that she had given him and in his own heart he felt her strength, her light.

It was today that he fought back the tears, he fought back the pain and he fought off the numbness that threatened to take him. He no longer wanted to have this war within himself, he wanted to simply be Yaro Yamato again, the strong boy who could face anything. He felt it inside of him, a determination that many around him would not understand but through this all he knew that he could not mock the sacrifices that he had witnessed by becoming a broken fool.

Whatever the consequences of his past actions, whatever wrong choices he had made he could see now that he had to make his own future and leave behind everything that plagued him. Somehow in this day of darkness he had to see the light that had drawn Meiko to him and he had to embrace that light in order to fight for the future his dear friends had given their lives for. Though the darkness and pain of loosing so much followed him now he knew that he couldn't let it kill the hope he had for his hope was all he had left. He slowly stood up holding the necklace in his fist and ignoring the people that passed him there, today he would bury it all.

"No longer," he whispered as a few more tears slipped through his eyes he looked up to toward space. He wasted so much time vainly thinking of himself, now he was different. He saw the world in such a clear way, it was time to show them all that he could be stronger than this. He wouldn't let it break him. It was time for Yaro to show everyone who he really was.

* * *

Kira groaned as he felt the numbness in his arm. The doctors had insisted in setting it and numbing it though he tried to convince then that it did not hurt him that much. He thought back to everything that had happened after he left Meiko by the STING. He had been caught up in fighting off ROW units while he rushed through the battlefield toward the Eternal. It was then that it all happened, Meiko self destructed and he saw that the Eternal was heading for earth so he decided to re enter on his own. He was still very close to the STING when he started down so his unit was caught in the heat of the explosion and pelted with debris. He was overwhelmed by it all but he still fought to get to earth and he had landed what was left on the Freedom aboard the Eternal as soon as he came falling out of the atmosphere. Apparently he had passed out after that and fire crews had rushed to cool of the hot metal and they pulled him out of the wreckage. The doctor had pronounced him fine except for a slight fever and a broken arm.

"it's cold in here," he turned to see Lacus walk in. She sat down beside him and smiled warmly, "how have you been?"

"I'm doing much better than everyone seems to think," he replied with a slight laugh, "I'm glad we made it out alright. How are the kids doing?" Lacus looked down at the question thinking about her children and what they had all gone through. It made her angry that the war existed, she had never wanted them to experience the heartache and pain they all knew now. She could only imagine how Cagalli felt loosing a son the way she did. None of them had seen very muh of her since then and apparently she still found it hard to face the public in the aftermath of it all.

"I think Leyas and Kayla are really shaken from all that happened," Lacus began, "neither of them have said very much to me. Kiran is with the Minerva which is missing somewhere. Shinn and Lunamaria aren't with them Kira, I'm very scarred. What if something happens to him?" She didn't want to loose Kiran, after watching Cagalli she knew it would break her more than anyone else.

"Hey it's okay," Kira said placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her, "I'm sure he'll get out, if anyone of our kids can do it it's Kiran, he's much more determined than anyone I know." Lacus knew Kira was right, on top of what Kira said Kiran was with Meyrin and the crew of Minerva so he was in good hands. She just found it so hard to ignore the situation as fine because of everything they had experienced up to this point.

"What about Yaro?" Kira asked finally and Lacus looked at him with eyes wide in concern.

"I don't know Kira," she replied as tears filled her eyes, "when Meiko said goodbye he broke. He cried but then it just seemed to stop. He's shut everyone out and everything, I really don't know what he is thinking and feeling and I don't know what to do! He's not letting me in the way he used to as a child." Kira looked away from her for a second thinking about everything once again. Yaro had determined to kill Meiko yet something had gotten through to him that hatred was not the way. In the last moments of Meiko's life had Yaro come to see everything that he had seen. The girl was controled her entire life and had never made a choice on her own. Kira then turned to his next thought, if Meiko and Yaro had become close on ORB it was possible that he was now feeling more anger and heart ache about everything that happened and everything he had done. Kira knew he felt sadness for how things had turned out and he barely knew the girl.

"He's not a little boy anymore Lacus," Kira said wrapping his arms around her, "we've taught him what we know about life. We've taken care of him but now we have to trust that he'll make it through this. He knows we are always here for him and that's what is important now." He let go and looked her in the eye, "now I want you to know that everything is going to be okay. This is all hard right now but we'll make it through this Lacus. Just don't give up." He hugged her again as best he could with a broken arm.

"I won't Kira," she said hugging him back, "you know I never will."

* * *

"Look at all this!" Kayla declared as she stood on the top docks in ORB staring down at the water below. Andrew Waltfeld was watching over her as she had insisted on climbing all the way to the top and he looked down to see what she saw. The water looked very dirty indeed. Apparently the atmosphere and the explosion in space had dealt with all the large pieces of the STING so that there was no real damage to the planet below just pollution.

"It's pretty bad," Waltfeld conceded as the little girls eyes widened, "I heard that a lot of dust has settled on earth. It's because a lot of the debris is in the atmosphere that we can't locate the Minerva and a few other ships."

"Haro, Haro!" Lacus's pink haro bounced behind Kayla, "looks bad, looks bad!" Waltfeld sighed at the noise of the little robot; he had hoped that when Lacus was old enough the little thing would disappear, he never counted on her daughter loving it so much.

"Quite down Haro!" Kayla scolded turning to Waltfeld, "I don't think that anyone expected this." She looked down once again, "but I wonder if it really could have been worse. So many bad things have happened already but it seems certain that the fighting isn't really over yet. I don't think that mommy likes that Kiran is gone and that Yaro refuses to speak to anyone at this point. On top of all that the world is getting dirtied by this and all the big bad people are still in space. I wonder if the destruction of that huge warship really ended anything or if it is the beginning of even bigger problems." Waltfeld laughed at the little girl's assessment of things. She was always trying to figure everything out in her head and often times she came up with good conclusions and surprised people around her.

"Well don't worry about it," he said heartily, she was too young to be so involved with all this, "I'm sure everything will turn out alright in the end." To this Kayla got a faraway look and turned toward the horizon nodding her head in determination.

"It's not certain," she said closing her eyes, "there is so much darkness around the things that I've seen." She opened her eyes again and turned to him, "it all ends in darkness now. I thought there was light but ever since she destroyed her own life all I can see is a never ending blackness. I don't know how we will succeed now but I know we have to." He felt confusion at her words now but very few people ever really did understand her.

"We'll get through," he assured.

"Perhaps," she responded insisting in a bleaker outlook, "if the light shines again." He decided to stop trying to understand her, but he did feel a certain dread at her words. If there really was darkness in their future then where was the world headed now?

* * *

"NOT AGAIN!" Shinn spoke very loudly while trying to remain calm. Athrun and a few other ORB technicians were in the room as they all desperately tried to contact the Minerva.

"Just keep trying!" Athrun spoke urgently as everyone in the room seemed to want to give up. Kira and Lacus would not be able to rest easy until Kiran was back and the loss of the Minerva at this time would be a bad blow to ORB. Everything around them was on edge as the largest political power now was ZAFT and the PLANTs and Athrun was sure with the latest turn of events the PLANTs would be forced to decide where they stood. The nations of the world were on edge and he wasn't sure of everything that was going on but it seemed that many things were shifting now.

"How is it that I can get clear signals from the surrounding nations but not from our own ship!" Shinn responded turning off the comm device in front of him, "Where did they land?"

"We took video from what happened in space to try and project their landing pattern," a technician spoke up tracing a few lines on the map in front of him, "apparently the depth of the explosion forced them to move in a more southern direction than anyone else. I think they may have ended up somewhere in this nation here in southern Eurasia."

"Southern Eurasia!" Shinn yelled angrily, "all they way over there!"

"It's the projected path," Athrun spoke up looking at it once again, "and it seems that the nations surrounding the one they landed in are experiencing the unrest that means ROW is present. Things could have been worse but at this point we can only hope they actually landed on earth and didn't get destroyed."

"There is no way that Meryin would let the ship be destroyed," Shinn commented still very angry at the situation at hand, he should have been able to get back to them. Now if something happened to them he felt it would be his fault because it was his mobile suit that was assigned to protect the Minerva. What other hope did they have if they were attacked? There was only one prototype mobile suit aboard the ship and no pilots, they had to start searching for the ship soon or else things could end up very very bad.

"Then we will start sending out scouts to the area and focusing our satellites to see if we can locate it," Athrun said walking from the room. Shinn still sat there staring at the map. Southern Eurasia, too close to the enemy for him to relax.

* * *

Cagalli turned around as her maid announced her newest visitor, it wasn't surprising to her to see Murrue Ramius standing before her now clad in ORB's military uniform. The archangel and all the ORB forces had just returned from space along with the Clyne faction placing Cagalli in a very difficult situation with the PLANTs. She had a feeling everything was about to get confusing and with everything that happened she wasn't sure how she would take the coming storm. She didn't feel strong yet though it seemed everyone around her were getting through the last darkness and getting ready to face the next. Her heart was still burdened but she was beginning to feel like there was still hope. It was a hard place for her to be in but she knew forcing herself out of it was not right, with time she would be almost fully recovered though she knew she would never fully get over this.

"I am sorry I didn't visit earlier," Murrue said as they both stood there, "I know you went through a difficult time and I wasn't sure how much help I would be to you so I decided not to visit." Cagalli motioned for her to sit down as she got a faraway look then spoke.

"I never expected anyone to visit," Cagalli began, "I spent so much time wallowing in my own misery that I was hard to think of the people around me. I'm sure you know how loss feels, it eats away at you so much. I can still feel it but now I feel concern that I have abandoned my duties to much, a leader should be strong even in hard times. It's just I never expected anything like this to happen." Murrue put a hand on her shoulder.

"No one blames you," Murrue said with assurance in her voice, "No one ever expected something like this to happens and the people understand. I didn't come here to talk about that though..." Cagalli looked at her wondering what it is the older woman had to say, "I came her to inform you about a few things I have discovered."

"What things?" Cagalli asked a little confused by her words.

"The politcal land map of the world right now," Murrue replied opening up the laptop she had brought into the room with her, "for I understand there are many things ORB hasn't seen." Cagalli watched as she quickly opened up documents and stared at the screen shocked.

"The EA?" Cagalli questioned.

"I know after Gibraltar the treaty between the nations of the earth was dissolved," Murrue said putting her hands together and thinking of her former military, "but it seems in the past two years since ROW started reeling it's ugly head more prominently a large group of nations without ROW influence have rallied under the banner of the Atlantic Federation to form the New Earth Alliance or NEA. They have been fighting ROW as best they can but I have a feeling they have been struggling to gather their military. It seems ROW has invaded quite a few government systems and the NEA has found quite a few ROW agents trying to slip into their councils." Cagalli looked at her shocked, all this had been going on and she hadn't even known.

"How could this have just gone unnoticed by us?" Cagalli declared putting her head in her hands. On top of everything else she was dealing with, this had to come up now. What side would the NEA take in the upcoming dialogue with the PLANTs.

"The NEA's existence has been a complete secret until a few days ago," Murrue said, "but I was clued into it last spring when I visited my family in Atlantic Federation territory. I bring this all up now not because I think the NEA will be a threat but because I think they might be a help to us."

"How so?" Cagalli asked a little confused, "the old earth alliance had never really sided with ORB, why should the new one?"

"Because we are both fighting ROW," Murrue opened some more documents, "they hate what ROW has been doing into the world and they caught on much faster than any of us. It seems that in the past day the president of the Atlantic Federation, Fredrick Turnal has made a public statment praising our efforts against ROW in space and our victory. I believe that in the things that may be coming the NEA might be able to help us. I have brought this to you so that you can present it to the council Lady Cagalli. There is so much at steak now we need to forge new alliances and soon!" Cagalli looked at her and understood everything the woman was saying.

"You are right," Cagalli said looking at the photos once again, "I can't believe that we didn't notice this before but I agree with you. The NEA night be one of our only hopes in the upcoming battle." Now Cagalli just wondered what was about to happen if the NEA got invovled. The past wars were between the PLANTs and the NEA with Lacus Clyne siding with the PLANTs for the most part. So how would Lacus react to all this. Cagalli had to do what was best for her nation but she also had to be mindful of the Clyne faction that had allied with her. What path would they take with this new development?

* * *

"Damn that John Liene!" Jayley spoke very harshly as she sat now with two ROW agents in her office in the PLANTs waiting for the gathering of the council that would take place later that day. It seemed that everything she had done to keep the PLANT's from pressuring ORB at the time when ROW was attacking had all come to nothing, they had failed to bring the country to it's knees and they had lost two weapons of great importance. This failure represented the weakness of John Liene's own soul. Jayley knew that he thought of her as another one of his puppets in this war for the so called 'restoration of the world' but he didn't really know what he had unleashed when he had helped her earn power in the PLANTs.

"The situation was not all his fault," one of the agents who was known as Mike Shustre said, "Meiko defected and destroyed the STING and the Pain in one move. The only comfort Liene takes is that she killed herself in the process." Jayley could tell something was bothering Mike about everything. She did not know him very well but she knew that a lot of officers in ROW did not like him one bit, but it seemed Liene trusted him with his life.

"I told Liene the first day that I joined ROW that he was leaning tow much on this girl," Jayley spat slamming her hands down in front of her and standing up abruptly, "she was always wavering! Weak and wavering, that was what I told him but he couldn't bother to consider that what I was saying was true, he had already spent so much money on ensuring she was the best trained! He could have at least done that for some of his other young proteges then maybe we might not be in this situation!" She paced back and forth now unnerving Mike where he sat.

"You know as well as any of us that Liene did not intend for Meiko to fight alone," Mike said calmly, one thing she had never liked about him was his ability to be so calm in desperate situations.

"Of course but that's not his fault," she said sarcastically rolling her eyes then turning back to them angrily. "Of course it was his fault! He was the one who trained Rayla Frost, he entrusted her with so much information and never thought about what might happen if she turned and stabbed him in the back!"

"Rayla Frost is dead," the second ROW angent said now finally speaking up, "Liene does not let anyone speak her name in his presence."

"But if she were dead then we wouldn't have Redemption breathing down our necks in every operation we planned!" Jayley countered again getting angrier this time. "Has Liene not noticed that every time he makes a move a Redemption agent or some sort of intervention plan is always there? The situation in many of the nations on earth would be more in our favor if it weren't for Rayla's damned organization!"

Mike sat there unable to think of any way to reply now. He was dealing with so much now; Meiko had taken her own life and now Liene was leaning on him to help with the next stage of the plans. Mike could not see what he could do now, he was getting ready to leave ROW himself but he knew Redemption would be shattered by the recent events. He had failed his mission and it seemed that there was nothing left for him anywhere else. When they had escaped the STING explosion Liene had sent him and another ROW agent to the PLANT's immediately to beg that Jayley refrain from doing anything rash but he hated this duty. Jayley Lired had been the one part of the plan that he had openly protested to Liene, something about her did not sit right with him. It was as if she was ready to turn around and do something that was not in ROW's plans and in that event Redemption would not know how to counter it because of his failure.

"Liene is not asking you to do anything but wait for his commands now," Mike said slowly, "we don't want to loose control of the PLANTs, now more than ever we need you to cooperate." She looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Lacus Clyne must be destroyed!" Jayley said with hatred, "her and her forces must be stopped and if they are in ORB now we have no choice but to stop sitting here like we don't care about what is going on! Mike, I have the power to crush her at my fingertips now! The PLANT supreme council that was elected last are almost all under my control and ZAFT now answers to me! Liene is a fool if he thinks I am not going to use that power."

"You can't!" Mike yelled back. She looked at his face at this moment and saw something that she knew Liene had never seen before, Mike Shustre was different. He was not like the ROW agents she had trained with, he was more like herself and she knew at that moment that he was not with Liene. This realization did not startle her the way it should have. She always realized there was something about Mike that just wasn't clear to the people around him and the people in ORB, it was why the commanders had asked Liene to place Meiko in the care of another officer. The wheels in her head started turning as she kept looking back at him thinking of the possibilities. Could he really be one of the reasons that Meiko grew into such rebellion?

"So you mean to follow Meiko?" Jayley spoke softly now with a sinister smile, "how long do you think you can keep this act up before Liene leaves you for dead?" Mike took a step back at her words now knowing that she knew everything now. The other ROW agent looked confused now but he spoke up anyway trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"The point is that Liene has ordered you to do nothing until he figures a few things out, the political map of the world is in ROW's favor now," the second agent said, "and if you make any move you might just jeopardize that." Jayley smiled to the ROW agent knowing what she had to play now.

"Of course," she conceded stepping back and bowing her head slightly turning to the other agent, "we are all on Liene's side after all. So I will obey his orders, you may leave." The second agent hurried out but Mike lingered behind knowing that she would not really concede.

"Don't do anything stupid," he begged.

"I would say the same about you but I see it is too late," she said with a smile cocking her head, "I do wonder at it though. You've been with ROW since the beginning yet somehow all this time you've been able to stay unaffected by your own inner desires to turn your back on this life style. How have you been able to so deceive Liene all this time?" It was amazing to her now seeing someone so much like herself yet so different.

"I am with Liene," Mike tired to assure but he knew it was too late.

"I feel almost the same as you do about everything Mike," she said in a more seductive voice, "Liene's plans are brilliant but in the end he will destroy this world. The same goes for Redemption for the battle between the two is likely to end with something worse than the last incident. Mike you should join me!" He looked at her strangely not knowing what she was talking about but she continued any way, "you think that ROW and Redemption are the only powers waring it out secretly? No I have been working very hard to try and undermine things as well. Not only ROW but Redemption as well and the Clyne faction, yes all three powers now stand in the way of true world peace."

"What are you saying?" he asked not fully understanding her.

"I am saying that if things remain as they are this world will end," she said looking down sadly, "which is why I agreed to be Liene's pawn in the PLANTs, because from here I have power to change things. The battle between those three powers will destroy the world. We need to end the Clyne faction and then kill Liene if this world is ever to be saved. You can help me do this!"

He was shocked at all this. Jayley had always seemed to be the loyalest of them all, she too was defecting. He understood what she was saying about ROW but he couldn't understand what was bad about the Clyne faction.

"I don't really understand," he said looking at her in complete shock, "what is it you are planning."

"I am going to give you time to think about it," she responded, "for I know you can't really betray me since Liene trusts me, but I think I know which way you will lean. Ever since Rayla left you've been broken, angry not only at ROW but at her. You can't deny it all. Just think about my offer Mike." With that she exited the room leaving him there completely stunned. She had seen right through him and found everything that he really felt. He was angry with Rayla for leaving him with ROW, no matter what the mission he had. He failed on everything he had set out to do and now he was being offered a away to counter ROW for peace. He had to choose now between Redemption, the girl who had abandoned him and Jayley, someone who now offered hope. It confused him and now he wished more than ever that he could just end all the factions and bring peace himself. What could he do?

* * *

He stepped out of the car and closed his eyes at the cool breeze that floated by him before standing up and facing his destination. It was a very large building, it was where he had spent a year of his life. The ORB orphanage run by Cadrid Yamato and a very old Reverend Malchio. He stood there lingering for a moment staring at the large building as he heard the crashing of waves nearby. Apparently with the end of the second bloody valentine war, Cagalli had commissioned the building and the government kept it in top shape for all the children who lived there. Yaro still remembered how kindly everyone had treated him but he also remembered how he had once longed for a family. He remembered when Lacus had arrived, sad, scarred and alone. He did not understand everything that was going on, he only knew that he wanted her to feel the same happiness he felt there so he had talked to her. He had shared his toys with her and done everything a little two year old boy knew what to do in order to cheer the twenty year old Lacus up.

What Yaro had never counted on was Lacus remembering everything he did. It was all so simply back then. Lacus and Kira had come together with their baby twins Leyas and Kiran and Lacus had invited him to be part of her family. Through the years he had grown up in privilege and in peace with one of the most amazing families in the entire world. His relationship with his new father was like any father son relationship and his siblings knew him better than anyone else having grown up with him but it was his relationship with his mother Lacus that was truly special. Somehow she always knew what to say to him and he always knew what to say to her. The bond between them was strong. What more could he want in life?

But there had to be something more, something inside him always wanted to know what had happened to his real parents. His past was the biggest mystery within him and there were times when he longed just to know the names of his parents and maybe to know a little bit about them. Athrun had done all he could to find out information for Yaro but he had found almost nothing, just a bit of information on how Yaro had been brought to the orphanage and that his parents had been killed in the war. Now he stood outside the orphanage staring at the building and wondering who had really brought him here in the past and what her motives were for just dropping him off. He wondered who she was and if she knew his parents and if she did know his parents was she still alive and could he find her?

"So you have come looking for answers at last?" He turned around at the sound of Reverend Malchio's voice and saw the kindly old man leaning on a cane standing behind him, he was getting really along and years and by the looks of it he wasn't going to last much longer in this life.

"I've always wanted answers," Yaro said looking down and turning toward the setting sun, "I guess it's just taken me a few years to see that for myself." The Reverend frowned at this and walked toward the boy placing an hand on his arm.

"Come now," The reverend said turning toward the house, "we will talk inside. It is much warmer than it will be out here in a short while." Yaro followed the old man inside and greeted his adoptive grandmother Cadrid Yamato as well as the children that lived in the house now. The reverend insisted he drink some tea and then he led Yaro into a large warm sitting room to talk. Yaro was patient with the reverend knowing that since he waited 18 years for this moment a short span of time would not be much larger.

"Now I am sure Athrun has told you the story that I told him about the woman that came to me," the Reverent began getting a faraway look, "but I only told Athrun what she told me to tell him."

"You mean there is more?" Yaro asked filled with an odd feeling at the idea of finally knowing more about his past.

"Not much more," the Reverend responded sipping some tea, "But enough that I am sure you can come up with your own conclusions about the information." Yaro sipped some of his own tea as the Reverend seemed to be reliving the past in front of him.

"It was about, let me see, 17 years ago or so. You were just a small baby, you cried a lot back then but I always knew it was because you had lost so much, Cadrid used to say she would be worried if you didn't cry." The Reverend smiled at this, "but I remember a lot about her, the woman who brought you. She had so many names, I forgot some of them but one that always stuck with me was Rayla Frost, a very distinct name for a person that one only ever meets once in their life. She wore a rather odd white mask and she carried herself like a princess, like she was somebody important." Yaro listened absorbing everything the old man said and trying to envison the woman for himself, "I remembered she carried you like you were an important piece of her life. I didn't really understand why she was giving you up if you meant so much to her but she told me that she knew the life she was about to lead was no place for a child."

"Do you think she could have been my mother?" Yaro asked.

"No, no I don't see that at all," the Reverend said holding his hand up as if to grasp for something, "she did watch over you but I am convinced that she was as she said she was, merely a friend of your parents. She told me that your mother had been killed in the very first bloody valentine war, a tragic incident apparently she was caught in a trap laid for a coordinator by blue cosmos or something. When I asked Rayla about your father she replied that he had been driven mad with grief and that he took his own life." Yaro winced at this thinking about the circumstances, his father must have really loved her mother to go to those extremes.

"Did she say what she was to me, or where she was going?" Yaro asked, "please I need to know everything."

"You lost a lot in space didn't you?" The Reverend said causing him to bow his head, "I can see it in your eyes Yaro, the pain of loss that so grips your life. But I do know how it feels and I know that you are fighting it rather than letting it hold you which is good."

"There was just so much," Yaro responded, "so many things that should not have happened."

"Sometimes our lives are the tales of things that should never have happened," the Reverend said continuing his story, "Rayla's life was as this. I saw it on her face, the tales of loss and suffering, torment. She would not confide in me about her past but I knew her future was not a bright one. She said that she found you shortly after the incident with your parents and took you in but decided that she was not right to care for you so she dropped you off here. That is the extent of what I know besides the fact that I believe that somewhere out in the universe Rayla is still alive."

"Do you think she knows more than she let on?" Yaro asked looking toward the ground, "or that she would ever reveal it to anyone?"

"Do you wish to talk about the things that you have seen and lost at this time?" the Reverend asked catching Yaro a little off gaurd and when he turned away the Reverend kept speaking, "for sometimes the hurts that are nearest to us are the ones we hide from ourselves and the world around us. I believe that Rayla is still alive and that she is more ready to speak of the past that she was when I met her."

"But does it really happen?" Yaro asked, "does time really take away all the emptiness that comes with loss?"

"That will be something that you decide Yaro," the Reverend responded, "for sometimes in this race of life hurts heal, sometimes they just fade a little, sometimes we hold onto them forever and other times we erase them from our minds."

* * *

"The fact is that ORB is in alliance with Lacus Clyne and always has been," Jayley declared standing before the council, "they have ignored the fact that Lacus is a fugitive of the PLANTs and insulted us in every way possible. We have ignored this for too long, sure they were fighting off a ROW attack but are ROW really our enemies? It was Lacus Clyne who told us they were and we have discovered that she did not serve the best interest of the PLANTs. What has ROW ever done against us? If anything they are Lacus Clyne's enemies so we should consider them unhostile toward us." She had been deliberating with the council on this issue for an hour and they were finally starting to agree with her.

"Whatever ROW is they are not our concern and never have been," another council member spoke up, "and Lacus Clyne has been out of our vicinity for quite awhile now, there is no way that we can see her as a real threat anymore."

"The threat is that she can influence the masses more than any of us could ever hope to!" Jayley declared, "and we can't stop her from here! Who knows what lies and responses she has concocted! In space she was vulnerable but now she has 'witnesses' around her, people that will try and vouch for her! The people are easily deceived even though we have told them the truth, who says that they are going to believe us over her? We have to stop her!"

"Are you suggesting that we declare war on ORB?" a council member whom she knew very well, one that served her spoke up now. Everything was playing our perfectly.

"Yes, I am," Jayley said with a sly smile, soon very soon now.

* * *

She walked down the halls of the Eternal thinking about everything that was going on around her. She had been told to get off the ship and proceed to the Attha mansion but she had found herself unable to do such a thing. A sense of dread had filled her over everything that she had just witnessed in space. Leyas Yamato was shaken by it all. She stopped walking for a second to take a deep breath then continued on.

_Always wondering why  
Always feeling alone  
Always breaking down  
Is there any other way  
For us to find light now_

She sang the hopeless sounding words as she stopped in front of a photo of her family. She felt like this life they faced now should never have been theirs, like fate had been upset through all the things that were happening around them. They had lived in such peace on the PLANTs for so long, none of this was every supposed to happen, she should still be there enjoying simple life. Worrying about nothing but what she is going to wear to the concert or where she and her friends are going to go on vacation together. It was all she could do to hold it together at all times here in ORB. Nothing was right and she knew with the way things looked now things were getting worse.

Her thoughts turned to Meiko, somehow she had a connection with that girl yet she would now never be able to find it out because Meiko was dead and gone forever. If someone so strong could fall in such a terrible way how would the weak fair in the wars to come. It seemed that everyone around her was uneasy ever since that last battle. Kiran was missing and the atmosphere was still filled with dust and debris. Though the planet suffered no damage pollution ran wild as the politicians battled out what to do next. Leyas hated being stuck here, she felt that her nation was in trouble. The PLANTs were in trouble and she had no way of returning to them to help, no way of doing anything but staying to fight them off if they dared to attack her family again. The only comfort she took is that ROW was gone or at least they were hurt enough to stay away for now.

"You worried about your family," she turned around quickly a bit startled by the voice that spoke behind her, she hadn't expected anyone to come down the halls at this time. She turned to see that guy who had brought Yaro back from ROW, she had forgotten his name but from what she understood he was an ex ROW agent and her mother had sworn him into the Clyne faction just that morning. He was Meiko's friend and now their ally.

"Not worried," Leyas responded a little coldly, she was still resentful of his time in ROW. From what she understood he had piloted one of the machines that gave them trouble on their way out of the PLANTs. It would not be so easy for her to welcome him with open arms as it was for the people around her. "It's just too much at once, ROW really hurt us."

"I know," Trey replied looking down a little ashamed of his own time with them, "they are animals. They deceive even the people who fight for them and in the end they toss you aside. They used Meiko and it destroyed her." Leyas took one look and him and she knew he was hurting. She had no cause to really hate him.

"What was your name again?" Leyas asked.

"Trey," he replied and Leyas smiled.

"And I am Leyas Yamato," she responded.

"Leyas," he said her name, "I am really sorry for all the problems I caused you and your family while I was with that organization."

"There's no need," Leyas replied, "but if it makes you feel better I accept your apology. The truth of what ROW did weighs on us all because of the things that have just taken place. I don't know how things are going to turn out and I feel very scarred right now as I'm sure we all do. We're living in uncertainty so there is no time to wallow in the past."

"I know that," Trey replied breathing out heavily, "but I also know that right always wins and I believe that now I am on the right side. I am very grateful to your mother for allowing me to fight alongside of you all." Leyas smiled at this, she was sure with that Trey would prove a vaulable ally to them in the future. He had fought with ROW and he knew their methods better than anyone here. He had also fought alongside Meiko for a long time, perhaps by speaking to him about her Leyas would be able to unravel the great mystery of the connection between herself and that fated girl.

* * *

"What will happen to us?" Alicesia asked as her and Kiran both stood on the deck of the Minerva watching the sunset. Transmissions were still unsuccessful and without any word from ORB Captain Meyrin Hawke seemed to think that moving the ship was a bad idea. They still had no idea where they were and they discovered that their navigation systems were slightly damaged. A few engineers were working on getting them back to normal but it was slow going. Everyone on the ship seemed to think the situation was very grim.

"Cheer up Alicesia!" Kiran said in a happy tone of voice, "being down about everything can't be healthy in any way!" She smiled at his enthusiasum, somehow he was aways so optimistic through this situations and she wondered how.

"But aren't you even a bit worried about our situation?" she asked.

"Worrying never did anything for anyone," he responded a bit more seriously now, "in my limited experience I have found it a waste of energy that can be used doing much more practical things. Besides what do we have to really be worried about? We're inside one of the greatest warships of our time with an amazing captain and a strong crew." She nodded her head at this.

"That's true but what about Shinn and Lunamaria?" she asked, "and we don't know what happened to everyone else."

"I am confident that they all made it to ORB safely," Kiran replied, "and I am confident that we will get through one way or another."

* * *

Yaro stood now in the Morganrate factory alongside Mu La Flaga. After leaving the orphanage that evening he had proceeded to Morganrate to speak to the older pilot about something that pressed on his mind after his experiences today. He was originally placed in ORB as a child and he now wanted to fight for ORB, it was his real country. He was tired of being under the orders of superiors that were emotionally attached to him and he now wanted to fight under someone who wouldn't fear for his life and order him to hold back. Lacus Clyne hated killing and at this point ORB had no problem with it. He had witnessed the battles in space and he knew that ROW agents were ruthless and he now understood that some people deserved to die.

"Are you sure about this?" Mu asked him as the old Morganrate technician Erica Simmons led them into another chamber.

"Yes," Yaro replied.

"I have approved your request," Erica replied pressing some buttons on a keypad next to a large door, "ORB needs good pilots in the battles to come and I hear most of the Clyne faction is clearing out to keep from causing trouble." The doors in front of them opened and Yaro stared on shocked as beyond was revealed a really large Gundam machine. It was colored Blue and Green and it appeared to be very powerful indeed. He just stared on in awe of the large machine.

"It was commissioned by the council that we construct a few new super Gundams, one for Athrun and one for Uzumi," Erica said.

"Then this was meant for Uzumi?" Mu questioned. He didn't like this all one bit. Drafting Yaro into the ORB military was like taking him away from the Clyne faction. It was all so sudden.

"Yes it was," Erica responded, "Its the MOG - 8453 Dreamer. When Uzumi was shot down in space this machine had no pilot and I found no one really worthy of it until you came in here today. Though this machine is not done I have a feeling that there is no one better for it than you Yaro." Yaro stared in awe still at the machine before him.

"The Dreamer," Yaro said, "Uzumi's gundam."

* * *

Milady stood there with the doctor aboard the Reversal reviewing everything he had discovered on his newest patient. It had been a long past few hours waiting for all the tests to process and the poor soul looked terrible indeed. The endless night of space wore on as Milady sat there, ignoring the need for sleep and focusing now on one thing.

"After a considerable amount of tests the list of things that we have come up with leaves little room for hope," the doctor sighed holding the clip boarded report.

"What?" Milady questioned.

"Broken bones, specifically a Shattered wrist, dislocated shoulder, twisted ankle, two broken ribs and three more cracked. That alone is a lot of damage " he responded pointing to the images on the screen, "the shattered wrist causes the most concern see, bones are fragments all through there but they are just fragments. Repairing them is impossible." Milady looked at it in shock, she had never seen anything so torn into pieces in her life. She brought her hand to her mouth and turned away in anger. "And that's not the only thing Milady! There is a raging infection and a very very high fever. The patient crashed twice already and survival chances are very very low."

"No," Milady felt tears coming to her eyes as she looked at it all.

"We have to get back to base," the doctor said urgently, "back to our advanced facilities. I don't have the equipment I need out here!"

"Then we will increase our speeds and set our course back to base immediately," Milady said storming out of the hospital room. She had almost sacrificed her mobile suits for this moment sending them into everything and now she could not allow everything she had done so far to be in vain. She could not loose hope and she would do everything to ensure hope remained.

* * *

"You know I've been getting really tired of sitting around," Yack said floating into the dining hall where Milady sat finally recognizing that she needed to keep herself healthy and that she needed to stop spending all her time in the medical center.

"Patience Yzak," Milady responded with a slight worried smile on her face, "I think we're going to get our chances soon enough."

"What about the recent developments?" Yzak asked, "do you still believe in the Super Seed Theory?" She smiled at this, he was still skeptical about everything she had told him on this subject. She knew it seemed a little unreal but it was belief in this theory that had driven a lot of her plans. It was risky but now that she had seen it with her own eyes she knew it was real.

"Did you not sense it in your mind?" she asked, "did you not feel it? It is real, and I am sure that we have it with us. You need not be so pushy about getting your chance to fight. I know you've waited now for 13 years but I ask you to please be patient a little longer for I have a feeling ROW is not done. Liene will run and hide, he will hold back and lick his wounds but in the time to come ROW will return more powerful than before, of that I am certain. Meiko wasn't the only one that Liene trained, there are still more that we haven't seen, I only hope that everything turn out pkay."

"But what of Yaro Yamato?" Yzak asked her, "do you still fell you did the right thing?"

"Revenge was never my motive when I saved the child," Milady replied, "and I have no regrets for the things I did regarding him."

* * *

**So it's finally done. I honestly did not expect to finish this today or to post it. I thought that this would be done next week or something. So this might be the last chapter of the summer, I have one more week till I go back and writing has turned into slow going again. I sat down so many times to write this week then got up after having written nothing and other times I sat down and wrote whole scenes. I refuse to write without being inspired to so it got a little slow this time around but I'm happy with how all this turned out.**

**So please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! I'll be watching my email to see what you thought about this chapter!  
**

**-WinterChill  
**


	26. Courage

**More, More, More. I've been going through the original plot again and making a few adjustments. I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew. This is the largest most plot driven story I've ever written and it's been really hard jumping through everything and remembering everything than needs to be addressed and making it all flow but I think it's all going to work out.**

**For those of you who may wonder**

**Mu and Murrue don't really have much of an influence on the plot of the story except that they are military characters and fun to use because we all know who they are and we all have a special place in our hearts for them. I also am going to let you know that they might have a huge dramatic moment in the Sequel that will influence the decisions of a certain character. I am still working on the sequel plot so nothings set.**

**PHOTOBUCKET! Not yet. Sorry I've been busy.**

**So school is crazy but I hope to update at least once a month.  
**

Phase 25: Courage

* * *

Lacus looked up as she heard a door close loudly. She and Kira were sitting in one of the living rooms of the Attha mansion discussing their next move with the Clyne faction when Yaro walked through the door of the suite that Cagalli had given their family to stay in. Yaro glanced in their direction, his expression blank. He then quickly turned to go to his room saying nothing to them. Lacus looked down feeling a little hurt at his behavior lately but it really couldn't be helped. She had never wanted him or any of her other children to face the world in this way but it happened and though she wished she could turn back time and stop it all she could not.

"I'll talk to him," Kira said reassuringly placing a hand on her arm. She shook her head and turned to her husband.

"No," she replied looking off in the direction Yaro had walked, "I have to talk to him." Kira shook his head and gave her arm a squeeze knowing that she would not let up about this. To Lacus Yaro was very important, she had been the one to push for his adoption before Kira had met him. Lacus rushed to ORB and adopted him then brought him back to the PLANTs to meet Kira. To them both he had become as much their son as Kiran but to Lacus he was very special. They had drifted apart with the recent wars and Kira knew she wanted to make things right so he let her.

She stood up and walked down the hall slowly as old times passed through her mind. The first day she met Yaro, various memories of him growing up. He should have never had to hurt this way. She walked toward the door of his room which was left open and walked in to see him sitting by the window staring out at the sunset.

"It's beautiful here," Lacus said catching him a bit by surprise as he turned his head quickly toward her, "Yaro I need to speak to you."

"About what?" He asked turning back to the window.

"Everything," she replied sitting on the chair by his desk. He was silent, she was silent they both sat their comfortably but she knew she had to get him to open up. "What was she like Yaro?" He turned back to look at her and he saw a sadness in her eyes. He flinched at this, she was his mother, she was someone whom he trusted and loved and he had never wanted to hurt her but he realized now that him closing up had hurt her more than anything else he could have chosen to do.

"I don't really know," Yaro replied feeling the emotions of pain flooding him now, "I mean she was so much. We both seemed to share the same vision about the world. We were friends and maybe more but I don't really know. It was all too much, her being a ROW agent. I couldn't save her." In that moment Lacus felt his pain, their connection working as they sat together. He was her son in spirit even though he wasn't biologically and she hated seeing him like this.

"It wasn't your fault," Lacus said, "she took her own life Yaro, there was nothing you could have done to stop her."

"I know all that," Yaro countered as tears filled his eyes, "see that is why it's so hard. I know there was nothing I could have done but in that moment I wanted so badly for there to be something. I wanted to save her but there was no way. Then I'm reminded of what I did before that moment in space. All the pain I turned to hatred and anger. It was dark, a darkness I have never felt before, it was hard to see anything else but this anger. Mother I couldn't see myself through it all and I still continued with it and when it left I was empty. I have resolved to leave it all in the past but sometimes it still returns to me, it eats away at my soul." Lacus shook her head at him.

"It's not you Yaro," she said clearly standing up and putting a hand on his shoulder, "we all feel angry at things, esspecially things that hurt us and Uzumi's death hurt you. Anger is the easy way out and all of us have taken it at one point or another..."

"But you never have, have you?" Yaro responded, "i've never really seen you angry."

"Let me finish," she said breathing in, "I have been very angry. I fought with all my might in the first bloody valentine war and what started as resolve turned to anger at the death of my father. And in Gibraltar I am the reason it fell, because I was angry. Terrorists attacked and I got myself in danger because I was looking for Kira. I was angry at him, because he left me. My anger cost us a lot and in the end it was as you said. I was empty and alone, and that was when I met you here in ORB. Remember?" His mind turned to his memories it was one he would never forget, and one she would never forget. For her, Yaro had saved her from the dark and for Yaro she had changed his life giving him the home and family he had always wanted.

_She sat in the corner of her room at the orphanage. She wished Cagalli hadn't insisted in sending her here but she knew it was right. There was too much press around the Attha mansion trying to snap pictures of the baby Uzumi and trying to find out the political families position on the recent events at the Gibraltar base. She put a hand on her belly feeling the small bulge that was beginning to really grow, her child and Kira's. Her thoughts turned to everything that had happened and the situation they were now in. He had not contacted them, the base had fallen and the people around her said that he was just captured but she knew that they did not want her to know that he might be dead. What about that would help her? The chairman was upset with her now and she had shown her weakest side, Kira. She needed him._

_It was cold and empty now as she sat broken and alone. She was cast out from everything that she had known because of her own mistakes. Nothing made sense to her, this was never meant to happen so why did it? Why did this all have to take place? Everything had been so perfect in the PLANTs, and her life was about to become something more, she was meant to help the world as the PLANTs chairwoman but she now felt that she might never make it to that position. How could she? Her people did not know the truth about everything and the media always sought to tear down public figures. If she returned she would be ripped apart but if she stayed here she would remain nothing._

_A small sound broke her from her thoughts as she turned to see a ball roll into her room and hit a nearby light stand. Following it was a small boy who looked no older than three. His dark hair was a mess sticking up in all directions as he chased after the toy that had eluded his capture. She watched with a blank expression as the boy grabbed the toy and saw that he was barley able to hold it as the large ball was almost as big as him. He turned toward her with a small innocent smile and she saw that his eyes were a deep aqua color that she had never seen before in anyone._

_"I'm sor-ry," he said taking a step back, "they said no disturb the nice lady but I needed to get my toy." She looked at him confused, "dinner is down tairs!" He said with a bright smile, "I tink they are oming to get you soon." She smiled at his broken words._

_"I'm not hungry," she said turning back to the window._

_"But you did not eat any ting," he replied dropping his toy in shock, "how can you not be hungry? You need to eat or Cadrid say you no grow up and then you stay small then you die!" She giggled a little at his expression turning again to see him standing there with a confused look on his face. She looked back with a similar look feeling that there was something strangely different about this boy. She had met many orphans but never felt anything like this._

_"I'm already grown up," she responded with a bit of reassurance, "and I'm not dead, I'm just sad."_

_"Sad?" the little boy questioned, "well my name is Yaro, sad is a very trange name."_

_"My name is not sad," Lacus responded with a small laugh, "my name is Lacus, and I meant that I'm not feeling up to eating right now." Yaro then suddenly sat down on the floor in front of her with a determined look on his face._

_"Sad," he repeated and Lacus looked at him quizzically, "then I guess we have to cheer you up, yes we do."_

Yaro had reached out to her. She had never met a child like him in her life.

"You remember," Lacus said now as she felt his own confusion growing, "I was empty, I was all alone. You reached out to me even though you were a just a small child who could barley pronounce your words. It was one of the reasons I made it through, because I let you in, because I opened up to the people around me. You see, we may not always understand why things turn out the way we do but we have to face life even when it all falls apart and the best way to do it is with the people that you love and that love you in return because they will always hold you up even when it seems like you are in an endless night and that the sun will never shine."

It was something he needed to hear, no matter what they would always be there. It was something he knew yet something that he never thought about when he made his decisions and now his decisions were leading him away from the path that was laid out for him by those who cared for him. It would be hard for them all but he knew he needed to do this, to see the world from a different light and to fight for his own sake. It was time for him to grow up and thought it would mean leaving everyone else behind he knew that they would always he there when he needed them just as he would always be there for them.

* * *

Kiran leaned back on his bunk, he was finally off duty for about an hour. It seemed Meyrin was beginning to depend on him since the rest of the crew was completely unnerved by their situation. He was surprisingly calm, it wasn't like they were about to be attacked or like they were near death. That had discovered they were in southern Eurasia very close to ROW territory but not exactly in it, so the chances they would make it back to ORB at this point were very high. Meyrin was having the technicians work night and day fixing the ship after it's crash landing in hopes of launching into space using the booster system that Cagalli had ordered installed. If they could get back to space they could coast toward landing over ORB and it would be much easier than fighting their way through Eurasia and the rest of the world. This wasn't a time to be put back again, not when they didn't know what the situation in ORB was.

Kiran closed his eyes as he felt his own exhaustion taking over. It had been a long hard day and things weren't going to let up until they were out of Eurasia. He sighed and just as he was about to fall asleep an alert sounded.

"ALL Hands Level 1 battle stations! We are being attacked! All hands level 1 battle stations!" He groaned as he jumped up and zippered the jacket of his uniform then ran out toward the bridge. He was moving so quickly that he ran right into Alicesia who was also on her way to the bridge. The two toppled over and hit the floor hard.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," Alicesia said standing up quickly.

"No need," Kiran replied, "I ran into you. Do you know what's going on?" Alicesia motioned for them to continue to run and they went down the halls faster seeing other crew members rushing about as well.

"I don't know," she said quickly as her breathing increased, "but we don't have any pilots! Kiran what if they have mobile suits." Suddenly Kiran stopped and Alicesia looked at him confused as he turned his head back down the hall and as the old stories began to fill his mind. They were bedtime stories that his fathers friends used to tell him of the time when the Archangel was escaping from ZAFT, how his father had saved them time and time again with no mobile suit experience. He was his fathers son. Resolve filled him and he turned to Alicesia.

"Keep going," he said assuring her, "I forgot something."

"KIRAN!" she yelled as he ran down the halls and turned toward the mobile suit bay.

* * *

Meyrin gritted her teeth as the Minerva narrowly dodged another attack and shot down a few more missiles. She wished she had Shinn and Lunamaria now, it was a lot harder battling without them. The enemy ships had launched three mobile suits that looked like stolen units, probably ROW but she wasn't sure.

"Where is the enemy ship!" she yelled as some of the crew members just arrived on the bridge.

"We can't seem to locate them, blasts are coming from two directions," a crew member declared as Alicesia sat at her post and glanced nervously at Kiran's empty seat, she wondered what he was doing and what was taking him so long. He wouldn't just desert his post if he didn't have some specific reason, this behavior wasn't like him at all. Meyrin seemed to notice he was missing quickly as she kept glancing back at his position and seeing a very nervous Alicesia sitting there like something was wrong. Where could he be?

"Where's Kiran?" Meyrin asked urgently as another blast hit the ship causing it to rock violently. Alicesia looked on the monitors and saw two mobile suits coming toward the ship. Part of her wanted to freeze up in fear but she knew what was important now, staying at the top of her game.

"He said he had something to do..." she was cut off by another crew member

"The crew said that the Courage just broke through the hatch!" Everyone turned to the crew member in shock.

"Who's piloting it!" Meyrin demanded to know when suddenly a realization dawned on Alicesia, Kiran looked determined and he was never the type to sit by and wait for orders. The boy had no sense when he got an idea in his head, he just ran with it and didn't listen to anyone. Of course he knew that she would try to talk him out of it, they had spent enough time together for him to pick that up. How had she not seen right through him?

"It's Kiran," Alicesia declared as all the color drained from her face and Kiran's face appeared on the screen.

"Just focus on the battle ahead don't worry about me," Kiran said as they saw the courage blast out. He was moving it well but the quesiton was could he really fight in it?

"No," Alicesia said as tears formed in her eyes. They had seen to much desperation in the battles they had fought, and all that desperation had led to unthinkable things happening, now it seemed that everything around her was beginning to fall apart again. Kiran was not trained to fight like the others had in space, he wasn't supposed to do it but he had told himself that there was no other way and now it was too late for her to stop him. She just stood there staring out at the monitors knowing that the battle ahead would be long and hard.

"Alicesia return to your post," Meyrin demanded turning back to the battle ahead. Kiran Yamato was the enough like his father that Meyrin knew he was the only thing they could rely on in this situation. If things got really bad she wasn't sure what she could do at this point. She turned back to the girl who was still frozen staring at the screen at her friend whom she had relied on so many times during the battles in space. Kiran Yamato was a light to them all, and if Alicesia broke down Meyrin was not sure what she could do to calm the crew. She turned back to the situation at hand, if she lost Kiran Yamato now the effects on everyone would be devastating. Uzumi was gone, she could not allow the same thing to happen to Kiran. She looked around the bridge and bit her lip, now was the time to cave on an old promise she vowed to never use. But they were there, in southern Eurasia, to let the Minerva fall over her pride would be too foolish and to let Kiran die would destroy Kira and Lacus.

* * *

Kiran blasted into the battlefield at blinding speeds not bother to look back. This mobile suit's controls were easy to use but he was not used to fighting in machines like this. What he kept from them all was that he had secretly used the simulator in the Attha house a few times, he had familiarized himself with how to fight inside this machine because he knew he needed to be prepared for anything. The basics that he knew had to carry him, he was confident he would perform better than Yaro had, after all he had broken out of the Minerva before anyone really knew what was happening.

He quickly assessed the situation, there were two mobile suits heading for the minerva but it seemed one had seen him and was no flying toward him firing it's main gun. Kiran quickly grabbed the controls and doged the shots gritting his teeth together and fighting to stay balanced, this was a battle that would lead to his death if he wasn't careful.

"Kiran try to locate the enemy ship," He saw the face of a crew member on his screen and he was surprised it wasn't Alicesia, but knowing her she was probably freaking out right now. He really thought that everyone needed to chill he could handle himself out here. As he thought that he realized that he had barely dodged that last shot and he quickly whirled out his beam saber with one hand and using his right arm's built in cannons to fire back at the machine before him. He caught a shot from the other machine with his beam saber and quickly slammed his engins forward in attempt to engage in close combat. It seemed that the machine before him was not ready for this as it jumped back and and seemed to falter at the idea of close combat.

"Did you hear us Kiran! Find that enemy ship!" the cremember demanded this time.

"Shut up! I'm busy!" Kiran yelled a little more forcefully than he wanted to but the machine in front of him was really beginning to bug him. He fought on trying to get to close combat but he was unable to so he kept firing his side gun.

"They've launched two more mobile suits! Be careful!" He saw Alicesia's face on his screen, finally. His heart was pounding as he finally got close enough to swipe at the unit with his beam saber.

"Take this!" he yelled as he sliced through the units arm. The small explosion sent the unit flying off balance but his mobile suit was suddenly lurched forward by a blast and he saw two more mobile suits making a headway for him. "COME ON!" he yelled.

* * *

"We've got the enemy ship," a crew member yelled, "It's north of us hidden behind that rocky area."

"Mobile suits on the port side," Alicesia declared, "missiles starboard!"

"Intercept!" Meyrin yelled jumping up, "fire up the engines, we have to fight off the mother ship! How is Kiran doing?"

"He's been attacked by two mobile suits at once," someone said, "he's being pinned down, but he disabled one earlier." Meyrin's fists were curled up, this battle was getting tense quickly and she didn't know the enemy's full fighting strength so proceeding was going to be very messy.

"How did those codes go through the transmitters?" she asked.

"They went through," Alicesia declared. Meyrin looked back toward the window hoping Kiran could hang on for just a little longer. They would be out of this soon.

* * *

Kiran was beginning to feel a little afraid as he fought to keep up with both the veteran fighters, he kept his head through it all using logic to keep them at bay as he tired to move closer to them. His heart was pounding as adrenaline flowed through him and he felt strength pouring into him at the thought of why he was fighting. He was out here to protect his friends aboard the Minerva, and with that purpose he would continue to fight on.

He pulled out his second beam saber as something exploded in the back on his mind and he maneuvered around the two mobile suits seeking to split them up, he would take them out one at a time. He succeeded in putting distance between the two slashing his beam sabers through the air and using his engines to fight off one. He was surprised when this one pulled out a beam saber but he was unphased as he attacked it at full force. Suddenly an alert sounded on his monitors and the second mobile suit was bearing toward him. He began searching for a way out and he knew he would not be able to jump back in time if the other unit had a beam saber. Suddenly another alert sounded and he saw a third mobile suit coming in fast, this was looking bad. Anger began to fill him when suddenly the third mobile suit slammed into the one that was coming toward him.

He was confused but he kept on fighting the one he had been fighting. He quickly disarmed the unit as his seed blazed in his mind giving him heightened awareness. He turned and saw that the unit that had attacked his second enemy had headed toward the Minerva and was fighting off the enemy units at the ship. It seemed that he had brought back up as well as two other mobile suits shot past Kiran heading toward a rocky range.

"What's going on?" he questioned Alicesia over his radio.

"I don't know, but they are friends," Alicesia declared with shock evident on her face, "some old friends of Meyrin's."

* * *

"Meyrin Hawke," a man's face appeared on the screen of the Minerva, he looked to be around Meyrin's age and his deep orange eyes marked him as a coordinator immediately. The color was just not natural. He laughed as it was evident he was fighting and talking at the same time. Alicesia turned to see that Meyrin looked a little annoyed by the man on the screen.

"Who is he?" a crew member asked by Meyrin offered no answer.

"Call Kiran back, this battle is as good as won," Meyrin declared standing up, "Minerva fire positron cannon toward that ship! Blast them to kingdom come."

* * *

"Kiran, return to the ship!" Alicesia ordered, "this battle is won." Kiran looked at her confused when he saw the Minerva fire a large blast toward the rocky expanse in the distance. The explosion was huge as rocks were sent flying into the air and the enemy was on the run. Kiran smiled the day had been won.

* * *

Meyrin did not ever want to see him again, she had told him so when but it seemed that she had no choice this time. He stood before her wearing a smug smile. Her officers stood behind her as well as Kiran and Alicesia as they stood before the leaders of this rogue group that had come to their aid. Kiran was wondering who they were and Alicesia was just grateful that they had all made it. Kiran had an arm wrapped around her as she had jumped at him and told him not to scare her like that again. They had been through the battles in space together and they were used to fighting together by now, their friendship was natural and comfortable. Kiran didn't want anyone to hurt her and he understood how she felt the same. Their attention turned to the man as he looked like he was finally about to speak.

"I told you that someday you would need my hep Mey," he said speaking directly to Meyrin with a smug look, "and you said you'd never call upon me, but I knew you would." Meyrin looked at him clearly annoyed with his words and spoke up.

"I didn't call you for a personal favor Ceveris," she said spitefully, "you know why I disapprove of your methods and why I decided to cut off contact with you but my ship and the son of Kira Yamato were both in the balance here. I had no choice but to contact you. Now I hate to say this but I am in need of your assistance." So Meyrin knew this man, something of a history. Kiran wasn't surprised, she had been a part of Cagalli's secret military since Lacus had become Chairwoman and in that military it was rumored she had become involved with a mobile suit pirate or something like that.

"Well as long as we are working together again," the man said tilting his head, "so you say you have the son of Kira Yamato with you? We heard about the battles in space, and about the aftermath. I can only conclude that you got off track in re-entry, just like you Mey, always making small errors. I heard you were late to ORB as well and that cost them dearly." Kiran stepped forward frustrated with the man's cocky attitude, he was the only one allowed to act like that.

"Many lives were lost in the battles in space," Kiran declared, "you have no place in questioning our captain!"

"Kiran step back," Meyrin demanded and Kiran stepped back into place.

"No it's alright, I understand what you are saying boy," the man said, "but the facts are that's war, lives are always lost no matter what you do to prevent them from being so. It would be better for us all if wars didn't exist but such is not the world we are living in. I presume you are the pilot of that mobile suit I saw earlier, I can tell from your eyes, you move that thing with emotion but your skills are lacking." Kiran rolled his eyes at this man, he didn't want to hear it.

"Ceveris!" Meyrin said annoyed with him still.

"Oh yes Mey," he turned back to her, "what was it you needed me for? I'm sure you didn't just expect me to fight off those enemies then return to the caves and rest until you're in distress again." He watched her reaction to his words and smiled again, he had missed seeing her annoyed at his cocky attitude. They had a sort of history together in the distant past. She had been on a mission for Cagalli and she had met him and his rouge group out here in southern Eurasia, the middle of nowhere. Since she left ROW had become a driving force in the area and he had been forced to draw back his small resistance force for the past few months knowing that they couldn't just fight off the ROW agents, that they had to wait until the time was opportune for them to get out of this area, and the arrival of the Minerva had been such a time.

"I need you to help me," she declared though it was humbling for her, she had left in her pride claiming that she would be strong enough to never need his help, "It is imperative that I get the Minerva back to ORB, so much has been lost already! I ask you to join us in going in that direction and I plead with you to offer out ship your protection."

"Aw Mey you don't have to beg," he spoke this time with a more respectful tone, "we've actually been waiting to get out of this place, most of our force was taken out months ago. There are only 4 of us left."

"I'm sorry," she said bowing her head in condolence.

"No need it's been awhile," he responded turning to her crew, "I guess it's time for me to really introduce myself, I am Ceveris Matthews, leader of the Mighty 16, an unoriginal name but it didn't take us long to come up with it. I am the pilot of the Iron Fist, that silver mobile suit there. These are my men." The three men behind him bowed, they all looked more serious than their leader.

"And you boy must be Kira Yamato's son," he said looking toward Kiran, "your eyes look like Lacus's but your piloting suggests you might have more of your father in you and the potential to be great." Kiran nodded.

"I am Kiran Yamato," he replied, "I don't like you." Alicesia giggled at Kiran's frankness knowing that there was certain to be a lot of sparring matches between these two, both were cocky to a fault.

"A lot of people don't like me kid," Ceveris replied more sternly now, "but I am going with your ship as your protection so whether or not you like me is irrelevant, we are going to be fighting together in the future for sure. Meyrin here doesn't like me but she recognizes that I am a valuable ally in this instance." Alicesia smirked, Ceveris had chosen the wrong word to use when he said kid.

"I'm not a kid," Kiran spoke now with a hint of anger, "I am 14, no longer a kid! Why does everyone always call me kid." The group laughed at this and Meyrin sighed. The voyage ahead was sure to be a long one.

* * *

He had not spent very much time in this house in the past few years, in truth he hadn't spent very much time on earth or in ORB. There was just so much he had not been there for, watching his sister grow into her own as representative in ORB had been a lot to see for him and it had inspired strength within him. Kira and Cagalli were very odd as siblings because they had not grown up together like most, yet they were closer than most. He now walked into her office to speak with her again, as they had often in the past, for they understood each other perfectly and they knew what to do about many situations. Now he had to tell her something that was very important for them all. Things were getting tense once again as there was silence from the PLANTs and ROW had retreated. War wasn't over and would not be perhaps until John Liene was dead and Jayley Lired was out of the PLANTs.

"Cagalli," he said as he walked in and she stood up and gave him a hug, glad to finally have her big brother there with her. She had missed having him around in the past years but she knew it was they way things were. They both had very different lives not and they had accepted that. It was they way things were.

"I'm glad that we've made it through," Cagalli said, "for now, we've made it through." Kira sensed the pain in her words and he understood, it was hardest on her.

"For now," he repeated motioning for her to sit down, he took a seat as well, "but our presence here is putting your nation in danger Cagalli. Which is why I am here, I am sorry I haven't been there with you and Athrun through everything and I'm sorry that I can't continue on here." Cagalli looked at him confused. "Lacus and I have discussed it, the Freedom is a wreck, the Clyne faction is weak from all the fighting. Cagalli there are two more outposts of our force in space, down here we won't be much help to you, in fact we are the opposite. We are giving the PLANTs a reason to target you."

"And we will fight them off like we did ROW!" Cagalli declared now, "we won't let them take Lacus, I promise."

"It's not about you Cagalli it's about our home," Kira replied, "We are weakened down here, we need to regroup so that we can fight better. Lacus commissioned a new machine for me, it's being designed in space but they need me up there to run tests. Lacus needs to get out of here. We can't just sit back and wait for the PLANTs to attack ORB. I am sure the council is getting nervous about us being here as well."

"I understand," she replied with a downcast look, "I just don't like it Kira."

"I don't either," he replied, "you're my little sister, and you've gone through more than any mother should have to. I wish I could just stay and protect you but there is so much going on around us, we need to stop this war and soon."

* * *

"She would have given anything to have another option out there," Trey said walking into the room where Yaro stood watching the sunset, "you do know that right?" Yaro didn't even turn around as he spoke, Trey took this as Yaro trying to ignore him. Ever since the destruction in space Yaro had become very resolved, like he had just burried everything when Trey knew it would probably be better for him to have some time to grief the loss. Trey himself felt like part of him had been ripped out, the girl he had sworn to protect at all costs was gone and there was nothing he could have done to stop it from happening.

"What happened has passed," Yaro said in a dry tone that carried no hint of emotions, "it was hard for all of us but crying about it isn't going to change anything. I still feel it like you do, she somehow became a part of me and I'll never loose that." Yaro then turned around and Trey saw that he was holding something, a small silver chain was hanging from his hand and Trey assumed it was the necklace Meiko had given to him when she said goodbye in the hangar. He still had not forgiven himself for letting Liene fire that shot, he should have been paying more attention. Just like he should have been out there fighting with her but he wasn't, the only person who made it even close was Kira and she sent him away before he could do anything.

"She left something else for you," Trey spoke now reaching into his pocket and holding out a sheet of paper, "a letter for you she gave it to me along with a letter for myself just before we left the Prejudice." Yaro reached out and took the paper not sure what it would contain.

"Thanks," Yaro responded. Trey then nodded his head and took his leave as Yaro opened the sheet of paper to see what it could contain.

_Dear Yaro,_

_I have very little time for anything now, and I don't know what is going to happen out there on the battlefield that is ahead. I am trying to destroy the STING and I know it's so risky so I might have no other chance to tell you this except in this letter now. I am so sorry for everything that I did and everything that I caused in the past, for all the hurt that you now blame yourself for and for all the darkness that surrounds us. I was always too weak to decided who I was and where I stood which is why I just stayed in ROW saying that I was trapped because without that excuse I would have to make a choice and I didn't know what to do. I had nowhere to run until I met you and Uzumi then I was so confused I didn't know what to do. I just want you to know that if I am gone now that you saved my life. It was the moment I met you that I began to awaken, they day my eyes met yours the darkness in my heart was disrupted and everything around me began to change. Liene couldn't stop it, no matter what he did, you awakened who I really am. And now I know who I am because you showed me hope and what it is to feel loved. You showed me the world in a light that I had never seen before and there is no way I could ever really express that to you._

_Though you may be broken over everything I know the light inside of you, and I know that you have the strength and courage to be the best of us. I want you to be strong through whatever comes and I know you will be. Thank you so much for everything, because of you I am free._

_Meiko Virea_

"Thank you Meiko," he whispered as he felt sorrow in his heart still. By grace he was still standing strong, by her grace because she had made her choice for him. He could see the world before him now because of her, because he wasn't going to let this beat him. No darkness, no fear and no more pain anymore. Yaro Yamato was stronger than he had ever been before and his enemies would fear him. No one would get by him this time, no more darkness would be allowed to plague the light that he had found._  
_

* * *

"The freedom is rubble." Lacus declared as she stood next to Andrew Waltfeld watching technicians still trying to figure out what to do with the wreckage that sat inside the hangar of the Eternal, "what about our machines in space?" She had been waiting on reports from what was going on in space for too long. They had troops up there that were developing strength for the whole faction. Her forces here on earth were tired, they were broken and everything they were forced to go through was beginning to wear on them. ORB was nervous with them there and she knew that there wasn't much of a choice for her but to bring them all back to space and to switch them out for fresh troops. They would be greatful to be resting in space rather than fighting here in ORB for awhile.

"No good," Andrew Waltfeld responded, "they took on two much with trying to make scientific advancements to the system and the weaponry the way they did, are you sure that you don't want to try and rebuild the freedom the way it was?" She shook her head.

"There isn't enough time for that," she replied, "Kira is recovering, but ORB is not, I need you to please bear with me when I say this now. Kira and I have discussed it, there is no advantage to us staying down here on earth, we need to get back to base and we need to regroup."

"I understand," he replied, "should I assemble everyone?"

"Just make sure we are ready to leave soon," she said, "make sure we have all the supplies we need."

"Will do," he affirmed as they walked on through the hangar.

* * *

"The NEA" Athrun repeated as Cagalli wrapped her arms around him, she had just shared with him all the information Murrue had told her, "and you are sure this is the best course of action? Remember what the EA was before, Cagalli we can't just ally with them. If they ally with us against the PLANTs it will be just like all the times before."

"But it's not like all the other times before Athrun," she replied, "It's here and now. ROW is the enemy of all of us and if they have a foothold in the PLANTs, they the PLANTs are our enemy as well. We are not trying to start a war here we are trying to prevent ROW from tearing apart the foundation of the world in which we live. You have to understand I am nervous about this course of action as well, but if what Kira says is true the Clyne faction is preparing to depart to space and if we are to contact them we should contact them as soon as possible for I want Lacus to be by my side when I speak to them. I want them to know exactly where I stand now, no more lies." Athrun held on to her knowing that she was beginning to come back to them all as he was. They were both beginning to return to their strength, though the darkness had dealt them a harsh blow strength was once again returning.

"I trust you Cagalli," Athrun said, "I trust and support whatever decision you make."

* * *

Kira stood there with a stern look on his face, he never thought he would have to have this discussion with any of his children. He had always thought that they would always automatically revert to fighting under him rather than under another nation, it didn't matter that the nation was run by his sister; Yaro was his son and now his son stood before him defiantly as if he didn't care what his father expected from him. Lacus sat no the couch nearby with her head in her hands. The information had come to them through Athrun whom had gone through the recruitment list and had been shocked to come across Yaro's name. The boy was fighting for ORB, in that instance Kira and Lacus would have to leave him behind.

"What were you thinking?" Kira said completely ignorant of what was going through Yaro's mind, "no one is telling you that you can't fight, in fact we were planning on giving you another machine Yaro. Don't you understand what this means?" Yaro rolled his eyes, he didn't understand why it was his father was so angry, he had taken initiative in joining because he wanted to branch off on his own, this was his chance.

"I'm fighting for ORB not for ROW," Yaro protested not giving in, "there is nothing wrong with that."

"Yaro you are our son," Lacus whined at him, "we want you with us!"

"And you're allied with ORB, so I really see no difference except that I won't be fighting under your banner," Yaro replied, "and what's it to you anyway, you're abandoning ORB when you know this nation needs you!"

"Yaro we are leaving for more reasons than you understand," Kira said angrily, "now you are old enough to make your own decisions so I won't stop you there, though Athrun offered to discharge you himself. But I want you to tell me why I would be upset about this, just think about it for a little bit. What is ORB to us?" Yaro looked at him with his eyes narrowing not exactly sure what his father wanted him to say but he knew what he had to say.

"ORB is my home," Yaro replied, "you adopted me from ORB so I decided that I wanted to fight for them. I don't know why you would be upset about this, you fight alongside this country and Aunt Cagalli rules it so it's almost the same as me fighting for you."

"So you should have joined the PLANT military when we were up there then," Kira responded knowing that Yaro didn't understand him, "you should have just joined it because after all it was ruled by your mother right. Let's see what about that logic is unsound..." Yaro looked at him confused, "the fact that rulers are elected in these two nations and you just signed away your life to whoever is ruling over ORB whether it remain Cagalli or if it changed to Gratsler tomorrow. This nation does not belong to your family Yaro and you were not born here but rather brought here. I understand you want to do more but now you're stuck with your decisions."

"Well Aunt Cagalli's not going to be voted out any time soon!" Yaro yelled this time.

"With war on the horizon people are sure to get restless," Kira declared, "nothing is certain! You're mother was voted out based on lies, Yaro don't be foolish."

"I'm not being foolish," Yaro replied, "you are because you are abandoning all of us. And what about Kiran? Are you just going to space to leave him here on earth not even knowing where he is or what is happening with him?" Lacus gasped at Yaro's accusation, it was killing her inside that her young son was not here with her, and it was even more unnerving that she had to bear the thought of leaving earth without him. Hearing it just made it all the more worse and tears sprung to her eyes as she started crying, this made Kira angrier but he reigned himself in.

"Just know that you are stuck with the consequences of whatever you have chosen to do," Kira replied, "and we can not take you with us now."

"I'm staying to wait for Kiran," Yaro replied.

"You're staying to be rebellious," Kira said, "you're staying because you feel that fighting for ORB is the only way to get stronger and right now I don't know that I disagree with you anymore." At that Yaro stormed out of the room leaving Kira to comfort Lacus who was still crying uncontrollably. Kira was tried of dealing with Yaro, the boy was a mess and he wasn't sure what to do with him now, perhaps a stay in the ORB military was just what he needed to grow up.

* * *

_It was bold, it was beautiful. Yaro stood there upon a rock in the middle of the sea staring up at the sky for he saw something so very beautiful there; the glow of a light that was not the sun. He was enchanted by it wondering what it was he saw now here in the world of his dreams. He reached out and called to the light as it began to move toward him. He squinted through his eyes unable to stare into it for too long._

_Suddenly the light made the sound, like the beautiful song of a bird as it moved faster toward him, as if it was as eager to see him as he was to see it. As it drew closer he began to see it's shape, the shape of a beautiful bird and as his eyes adjusted to the light he saw that it was a bird. The bird was filed with light as if it was on fire, flying before him in glistening splendor and staring down at him as if seeing something inside of him that it recognized. The bird then flew around him in circles quickly evaporating the sea around him and showing him a staircase into a valley. He walked down following the direction of the flaming bird and found himself standing in front of the wreckage of two machines, one ship and a gundam. It appeared as if the gundam pilot had destroyed the ship but had been destroyed in the process. The bird rested upon these two items staring back at Yaro as if beckoning for him to see something but he didn't understand. He felt a peace at the sight before him though it looked grim, this peace surrounded him and enveloped him.  
_

_He then watched as a mist rose around the area and he heard a voice singing somewhere in the distance but he was unable to look away from the great bird that was before him._

_"And she will rise again," the bird suddenly said with the voice of an angel, "through ashes left behind, and death in her wake, as the flames fade she will rise again." Yaro looked at the bird puzzled, not understanding what it was that she was trying to convey to him. It was then that he awakened._

Looking around he found himself in his room_. _His mind turned to the dream unsure of what it was that he had just seen, but he could still hear the echo of the voice of the flaming bird and he couldn't help but feel anxious about it all. Something was coming, something was changing, and he wanted so badly to understand but nothing came. He couldn't understand what had just been said and he wasn't sure what to think of it all so he lay back.

"It was just a dream," he told himself when something within him was stirred by his words and he realized the parallels the dream had to a certain red head who destroyed a ship sacrificing herself to do so.

* * *

**So this may be a little crazy because this is just a written story and not an anime (if I could fly out to Japan and direct an animation team I would!) but I have compiled a list of openings and endings for each arch so I am going to let you in on the first two archs and the third to sort of introduce whats coming because I think all these songs fit. Thanks to **Fenikkusumaru **for sending me the name of the song redemption by Gack, because it gave me the extra push to compile all these**

**(Phases 1 -12)  
**

**Opening 1: Redemption by Gack - this song just really fits the story in that it is about a soul searching for redemption and fighting in revenge. After reading the English lyrics I have confirmed it as a great first opening.  
**

**Ending 1: My Heart Draws A Dream by L'Arc~en~Ciel - When I was looking for a first ending I wanted one that was more hopeful and I thought that this song fit well with Yaro and Uzumi's dreams as well as Meiko's beginning hope. **

**(Phases 13-24)  
**

**Opening 2: Marionette by Ayumi Hamasaki - Probably my favorite song of all the ones I found. This song is just so Meiko, I read the english lyrics about memories and about past and pains, I just felt since the second arch really breaks into Meiko's story more it was a perfect opening for those chapters.**

**Ending 2: Kouya Ruten by Fiction Junction Yuuka - "The era of destruction and ressurection begins" that was one of the translated english lyrics. After reading through the translation I felt that this fit the second arch section of the story which contained the death of Uzumi and the "suicide" of Meiko in search for redemption and a new direction for the world. It is a really deep and soul searching song plus its by Fiction Junction Yuuka whose songs were used in Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny.**

**Now for the songs that shape our section of the next part of the story**

**(Phases 25-35)  
**

**Opening 3: Boarding by TM Revolution - I felt like when looking for songs one of them had to be by TM Revolution, the first opening you ever hear from Seed is by them. So I searched for a good song and I felt that this one fit because to me it fits the next stage of Yaro's journey. **

**Ending 3: Promise by Nami Tamaki - Nami Tamaki is another one of those artists who I associate with Gundam Seed. I heard this song and fell in love with it's beauty. I read the english translation and it is a very hopeful song kinda signifying this section of the story.**

**So I am a little obsessed... Openings/Endings, drawings, a score, sequels, prequels, I actually had to stop myself from writing a plot that goes beyond the planned sequel to this story because I would be writing for Gundam Seed for the rest of my life! I do have a fourth opening and ending chosen but I am not going to reveal them until the fourth arch comes.**

**Ok so this is a really long authors not but I have a few more things to say since this is likely to be my last chapter for another few weeks. There are two authors writing stories based on Gundam Seed Redemption. The first is a rewrite of my story from the point of Uzumi's death where the author, **Joker Oak **is continuing the story while keeping Uzumi alive. For those of you who miss Uzumi this is a way to see where the story might have gone if he lived. The link to the story is here **www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net/s/6162227/1/Gundam_SEED_Redemption_Rewrite_Phase_18_Up. **The other story is a Gundam Seed redemption side story/prequal about called the Four Winds of ORB by **Capt Freedom **about a group of four body gaurd gaurding the Zala family. The link is here **www (dot) fanfiction (dot) net/s/6235418/1/Gundam_Seed_Redemption_The_Four_Winds_of_Orb.** So for those of you who really love the setting and world I have built this is a way to immerse yourselves in it more.**

**Now that this is all covered. I spent a lot of time working out the details of this chapter and in the end I had to split it in two again because there was too much being covered in one chapter. So the next chapter will be sorter as the remains of this chapter. There is much more ahead but this is the official halfway point as it is phase 25.**

**Next chapters**

**Phase 26: Things We Leave  
**

**Phase 27: Angel**

**Phase 28: Winds of War**

**Phase 29: Her Eyes Shine My Past**

**Phase 30: We Can Face the Dark Together**

**Phase 31: You Wished For Redemption**

**Phase 32: Phoenix  
**

**So REVIEW**

**REVIEW  
For those of you who REVIEW every time keep REVIEWING!  
For those of you who don't REVIEW it's never too late to start!  
I am serious.  
REVIEWs are the reason this story still exists without you guys I would have abandoned it altogether and gone back to writing uninspired cliche narnia fanfiction. So push that button and submit a REVIEW!**

**-WinterChill  
**


	27. The Things We Leave

**Good response for last chapter! But some are still not reviewing...**

**And I am beginning to wonder if you read the authors notes because there are two stories that other writers are writing based on this one. The details are in my last authors note at the end of the last chapter. Please go check them out and review their stories as well. Thanks!  
**

Phase 26: The Things We Leave

* * *

Jeffery turned to Kayla who put a finger to her lip as they heard the yelling coming nearer, it seemed that Yaro had been disagreeable all day. The two were playing chess in the living room when they had heard Leyas yelling across the house and heading toward the room so they had quickly ducked under the table, not wanting to get yelled at by either Leyas or Yaro. Kayla had turned off Haro because she knew the robot would be a dead give away when the two entered the living room and she wanted to know what it was they were fighting over now.

"It's not the same thing YARO!" Leyas yelled as Yaro stormed into the room with Leyas following him, "not even close, NO! You can't just abandon us right now, we are heading into space and the more protection we have the better, besides you could do so much more up there than down here!" Yaro ignored her and didn't respond which made her angrier. "You're not listening to me!"

"Why should I listen to you?" Yaro responded angirly looking at her with a certain coldness in his eyes that she didn't recognize, "you have no say in this! You do not know what I've been through."

"Oh for crying out loud, would you just grow up already?" Leyas lashed out, "this world doesn't revolve around your whims and your misery's. I get you lost two friends, I really do but you allowed anger to get the better of you the first time, you can't just make your decisions without thinking through the consequences of your actions! Yaro, I can't believe you used Kiran as an excuse! You know that mother is so scarred about him right now, you know just as well as any of us that this uncertainty is killing her and yet you didn't stop yourself. Yaro you can't just keep doing this, please I'm begging you let Uncle Athrun discharge you and please come back with us!" Yaro looked at her and saw the same look in her eyes that he had seen in his fathers, it was just something inside of him automatically ignored that look as if he just wanted to rebel against it. They didn't see that he needed to start on his own path, that he needed to find out what it was he wanted out of life outside of what he always had.

He had a chance, a very small chance to turn it all around now and he was taking it with everything that was within him. The life he had lived before had been a happy one but in the midst of it he was always restless about something, as if part of him always knew what was coming and he didn't want to be unprepared again. He felt it still inside of him, an urgency driving his actions now and it seemed the people around him just didn't get it. He couldn't ignore himself anymore, he was different than the rest and he couldn't just change himself, this was how it was.

"You just do not get it Leyas," Yaro replied, "you don't get it. Mother doesn't get it and Father definitely doesn't get it. I'm not in the ORB military for the sake of rebellion, or because I want to somehow prove my own worth, I joined because I have to. I can't do it anymore, I can't fight under the same banner I've always been with, I have to change it and I have to be somebody more, I have to make my own path. I don't think you will ever really understand it Leyas."

"But what about what you said? What father says?" Leyas responded, "Yaro what if Aunt Cagalli was voted out? What would you do then? Who knows what you would be forced to do, maybe even forced to attack the PLANTs. Being in a military is not like being a part of the Clyne faction, they aren't looking to protect you they are looking to see what you can do for them. Yaro if anything happened to you no one would get over it. Uzumi's gone now and we've done our best to cope with that but anything else will push us over the edge." She saw something of a fire light behind Yaro's eyes at the word she spoke, she really didn't understand why this was so important to him. She was worried now about what it was the drove him on, he was always her strong big brother but now it seemed something had really changed in him.

"And what about Meiko's death?" Yaro asked, "did that just have no effect on anyone?"

"She wasn't a part of our family," Leyas responded, "it was shocking, it was hard to see but not nearly as hard as Uzumi. Surely you understand that, you are the one who knew her the most, the rest of us only knew that she changed to help us and that she had the potential to be truly great."

"She was so much more than that," Yaro replied, "something about her was just right, like she was a part of me before. We were connected somehow and I don't understand it but I know that it was hard on me, it's part of what has driven me now. I want to know why everything went down the way it did, and I want to fight off it from happening again. I need to understand myself. I need to fight for myself and for no one else now, please Leyas understand! If you could just understand!"

"But Kiran, Yaro!" she whined at him now, "I don't want anything to happen to either of you. I just can't deal with him being gone and you doing this to us now, Yaro!" She was crying now but Yaro could offer her no words of comfort for he could think of nothing to say. This was something he had to do and she clearly did not understand that.

"I'm sorry," he said turning away, "but I can't." With that Leyas ran from the room still crying. Jeffery motioned toward Kayla and they both crawled out from under the table and out of the room before Yaro could turn around an see that they were there. Once out of the room they ran down the hall till they were in a living room on the other end of the house. Jeffery was shocked by what he had heard, there were more problems in his cousins family than he had realized. They all seemed like they had to together all the time now he saw that the only one who really had it together was Kayla.

"What was that all about?" he asked her and she looked at him with sadness evident on her face.

"It seems Yaro joined the ORB military and is not planning on returning to space with us," Kayla replied sighing, "and everyone is tense about Kiran. It's all very sad right now and I don't see how we can get out of this new darkness that is coming to attack us. You understand don't you Jeffery? We need to stop fighting or else the darkness will win in the end." Jeffery knew exactly what she was saying.

"If we are divided we will never be strong enough to really fight it all off," he responded.

"And if we aren't strong enough," Kayla affirmed, "ROW will win."

"How do we stop it?" Jeffery asked desperately, he knew what she was saying was true. It was as if it was something that the adults around them did not see, they were being blinded by fear of the PLANTs right now when there was something greater coming. Jeffery knew that Kayla sensed it more than anyone else yet people passed her off as just a child as well as himself.

"Redemption," Kayla replied with sadness in her eyes, "we need Redemption, we need to find them for they have the answers we've been looking for."

* * *

Lacus and Cagalli sat at the desk both dressed in their official uniforms and both carrying the weight of what this moment meant to them both. It was something they would have never expected to be doing at any time in their lives, calling for help from the NEA for protection against the PLANTs; an alliance that they would have never thought possible. Lacus breathed in deeply fearing this moment, memories of what the Earth Alliance had done in the old wars filled her memories, but now they all faced the same enemy, John Liene and ROW. It seemed by what Kira had told them that he would keep fighting for the destruction of ORB and with half the world under his control and the PLANTs now influenced by him, his success was on the horizon. Until now the resistance had been scattered across the world, the NEA had united them and concentrated efforts on stopping ROW expansion and trying to win back lost territory.

"The connection is made, they will be on momentarily," the technician with them said. And just as he promised there on the screen in front of him was the man who was responsible for the establishment of the group, Fredrick Turnal. He smiled as the connection was established and the conference begun.

"Cagalli Yula Attha and Lacus Clyne, it is good to finally meet the women behind the legends," he spoke with authority, he appeared to be older than them both and in his eyes there was kindness.

"Fredrick Turnal," Lacus acknowledged with a nod of her head as Cagalli picked up and spoke directly.

"It is good to finally meed you as well," Cagalli said taking on her role as a representative very gracefully for the first time in weeks, "I am sure you understand the reason we decided to contact you, it's the reason that the NEA was formed from what we understand. Now ROW has weakened out country and though we drove them back we fear that the last attacks were only a taste of what they can unleash. We were only saved because one of ROW's own agents turned on them and sacrificed her life to destroy the machine known as the STING. This is information we have not released yet." Lacus watched the man's face as Cagalli spoke and saw a determination on his face at the mention of ROW and a slight hint of sorrow when Cagalli described what ROW had gone through.

"We have become aware of what happened in space," Fredrick replied with a slight grave look, "the death of Meiko Virea spread like wild fire among our leaders because she was the one thing we feared the most, and the reason for the secrecy of the NEA. Do you know who she was?" Lacus and Cagalli were both confused, to them she was just the girl whom Yaro and Uzumi had befriended and whom they had influenced in an astounding way. "I can see you both don't" he said with a hint of anger on his face, "She was Liene's top assassin for ROW, someone whom he would send to kill leaders of different countries should they fail to adhere to his actions. He would take control of a place then leave her there for a short time and in that time she was Liene's mouth in that nation and if the leadership rebelled against ROW they were swiftly killed. We all believed that if Liene discovered who was in charge of our alliances that she would be there soon and there was no one that could stop her. News of her turnaround and her sacrifice was a shock to us but all of us rest easier now that she is gone."

"We did not know this about her," Cagalli sighed after hearing it all, to think that girl was in ORB for months and no one was the wiser, "she was stationed in ORB for awhile but if she was so powerful why didn't Liene send her after me or Lacus?"

"I don't know," he replied turning to Lacus, "I just know that now that she is gone things are a little better. How are things with the Clyne faction Lacus, are you planning on staying in ORB."

"The Clyne faction as well has been weakened," Lacus responded with a heavy heart thinking about how she was going to leave Yaro behind here in ORB with her next move, "and we are heading back into space soon because of the threat of the PLANTs that now looms against us. The things that went on there months ago when I was forced to flee make no sense to me anymore, ROW was moving all along and I have a feeling that now the Chairwoman of the PLANTs is nothing more than a pawn of ROW. This situation is grave indeed for I do not wish to fight my own people but they are under her influence now."

"I believe you are right," Fredrick affirmed, "I believe that Jayley is one of Liene's puppets, and as such I do not see her attacking ORB at this time. There are still many nations of the world that are outside of the NEA, ORB, and ROW and these nations have clearly shown that they sympathize with ORB in what happened with the attacks. ROW is the enemy of us all and if the PLANTs attacked ORB it would testify to us all that ROW is controlling their leadership and there would be a swift retaliation, one that could cause the same kind of war that happened in the past. The people of the PLANTs have been out of danger and they believe that their leader is bringing them peace and a world that is better for them, the media is on their side as well. If the PLANTs did attack earth then we would all be forced to fight back, it is a situation I want to avoid. ROW is the real enemy now."

"Would you attack the PLANTs if they attacked?" Lacus asked desperately, "because we can't fight them if they are being controlled, we have to break that control that ROW has on them."

"That is easier said than done," he declared and Lacus felt a little fear at his words, "ROW is a force that invades government systems, there are more leaders influenced by them than Jayley Lired. ROW then invades the military, I guarantee a lot of the officers are under Jayley's control. Finally the most imporant thing ROW does is control the people through the mass media. This is how they now control so much of the world. We have been trying to fight them off in what ways we can because their methods are shifting more to brute force because they have more man power and more military now, their underhanded methods are beginning to become more and more rare. I have a feeling they plan on keeping the PLANTs out of the wars because if they attacked with the PLANTs they would have took much conflict to deal with. This is one blessing in their actions."

"But the PLANTs have clearly shown they are not happy with ORB's alliance with Lacus and the Clyne faction," Cagalli declared a little frustrated, "no matter what Liene and ROW want, they took control of the PLAnts by declaring Lacus a criminal and now they have to follow up that accusation with action, I don't think that Jayley will just sit around."

"We'll have to wait and see on that one," he replied, "but I have a feeling you didn't call to have a discussion on the political landmaps of the world, though you have been a little out of the loop as far as understanding what ROW has really done out here."

"I am sorry for that," Lacus said expressing her grief, "I tried to convince the council to send aid when I was still chairwoman but I believe ROW might have had an influence even then, for I was able to do nothing much at all."

"It's not your fault," Fredrick said trying to calm her, "and I doubt any PLANT aid would have stopped the situation."

"We called because we wanted to beg your alliance," Cagalli spoke now butting into the moment, there were many things that she wanted to say and she knew their time was very limited, "we need some form of insurance. If the PLANTs did attack ORB is in no position to hold them off because of how many troops we lost to ORB. I understand that the NEA has a strong military now and we beg that you please ally with us so that we can assure that ROW and the NEA both stand strong. I can't watch this world weaken and crumble under ROW anymore." They both tried to read his expression as Cagalli spoke but they couldn't understand what he was thinking.

"I wish greatly that I could pledge troops," he said as Lacus held her breath knowing what was coming next, in his statement he wavered and there was a certain weakness in his voice now, "alas there is nothing more that I can do then offer friendship and a promise that the NEA will not attack ORB in any way. My troops are spread very thin, protecting our borders and our people from ROW attacks that have been steadily coming since the STING broke through one of our main lines. The fired that thing into some of our capital cities. They destroyed many lives and now that it's gone they are attacking harder. On top of that I am investigating quite a few people within my government, I want to keep ROW out of it completely but that's always easier said that done. There is a lot going on right now, I am sure you understand how it is getting." Lacus looked away from the screen thinking about all that was taking place, no nation was unaffected, they were all fighting desperately against ROW and now things were getting more and more desperate.

"We accept your offer of friendship," Cagalli responded feeling the gravity of it all beginning to weigh on her, "and we wish you all success in holding back ROW, we must all stand strong now against them if this world is to survive."

* * *

Leyas stood on the shoreline of the beach staring out into the sunset as the waves lapped up stopping just before her, no water touched her. The sunlight was changing colors as time went on and as it sunk lower and lower toward the horizon line. This was something she had always hated about life, the sunlight always left just like the relationships in her life, it faded away to come again but it was somehow always different to her. No day was the same and each night was darker than the anger filled her she took a step into the water letting it's coolness wash over her feet but it quickly receeded and was replaced by another wave. She stared up toward the sky as the sun was halfway gone now and she saw it in the distance, as the darkness came she could see her home, the PLANTs shining brilliantly in the sky.

"They don't hate you Leyas," she heard the voice of someone she knew well and turned to see her father standing there behind you, "they are being controlled, it's not their fault." Kira had been watching Leyas for the past few days and he saw something had changed about her, every moment he saw she seemed to be staring into the sky toward the location of the PLANTs if she could not see them and directly toward them if she could. She had grown up as their princess, and now it seemed that all she desired to do was to return home to them. He knew his daughter very well, for she was very much like him; she felt things deeper than others but she kept her own feelings very buried because she understood what was important. When she cried, she cried alone and never did she mention her pain to anyone. She looked at him now and he saw the weariness he had once felt in the first war, she was tried of the fight and this he understood. He remembered the day her and Kiran were born very well. He had watched them grow up and he knew Kiran was the stronger of the two. Kiran was more like his mother and his aunt where Leyas was the child who was more likely to be hurt by the pain of others around her.

She shook her head at him now as tears filled her violet eyes, the eyes that seemed to mark the weakness within them both. She was the most like him in more ways than one.

"I just want to go home," she said softly, "I just want them to be safe." Kira hugged his eldest daughter, he was glad that he would have her and Kayla both with him and Lacus in space now. His recent confrontation with Yaro had made him think a lot about his children and the things he could have done better but there was no time to look back with the gravity of what was happening around them, so he looked forward about all the things he could do better.

"I promise you that when this is over you will go home," Kira replied, "we will get you back there Leyas and I am sure that the light will shine to them again and we will be able to live in peace among them." She took comfort in her words, he had promised her and she knew when her father promised something he did everything in his power to make sure it came true. What she didn't know was that no matter how hard he tried there were some things that he would never be able to do and some promised he would never be able to fulfill.

* * *

Andrew Watlfed had been working hard for the past two days, things were now all coming back into being the way they should be. The Clyne faction ships were all supplied and things were ready now. They would be able to leave very very soon now and once in space they would be able to become stronger and with that strength they would retaliate agains ROW and show them that this world and all that was good was not going down without a fight. That fight had become his pledge and the pledge of so many.

They would all fight now for the future for they knew that they were running out of time.

* * *

Meyrin sat in her seat at the head of the Minerva as it launched into the sea, the mobile suit units of Ceveris and his pilots had been loaded onto the Minerva along with some supplies that he had stored up. The sea was nearby and they set their course for ORB with the help of Ceveris. She still had the crew working on restoring the booster system for back up but she realized the essence of time now, and she knew they would have to start moving for staying where they were was out of the question.

"Such a nice Ship Mey," she heard Ceveris say behind her, he had been on the bridge for the past ten minutes and it was beginning to get really annoying having him there, "I would never have foreseen you actually becoming a captain but I think you fit the role well now, and your crew seems brave even though you lack good mobile suit pilots." Meyrin was sure that Kiran was fuming now but Alicesia would be able to keep him calm for the time being. Kiran had fought well on the battlefield for his first time but it was very clear to all that he was a beginner, his technique was very shaky and if the pilots he had been facing had been better they would have taken him down. She didn't doubt that among those pilots were a few beginners as well. She had heard from Ceveris that ROW was doubling it's efforts on the nations bordering it's control line and that it was training new pilots very quickly and sending many out before they were ready onf suicide missions. He himself had been desperate to keep his unit in line and he had discovered a lot of information in the past few months, he was proving to be useful so far but she knew she would not be able to take much more of his nagging.

"Would you please leave the bridge Ceveris," she sighed tapping her fingers on the arm of her chair, "your services are not needed at this time and some of us have work to do."

"I'm sorry for being a distraction but I find it much more interesting to see what you people are working on up here than to sit in the back of the ship and wait until you are attacked," he responded, "besides you're up here and I enjoy your company, always have and probably always will. I've missed you Mey." That was it, she stood up now with authority.

"Stop calling me Mey," she said sternly, "my title is Captain Hawke or you may call me Meyrin but I am done with your pet name for me. I'm not that same stupid little girl you knew back then, I am the captain of this vessel and I have fought in some very successful battles. I would appreciate it if you treated me with more respect from here on out." He had not expected that from her, she really had changed in some ways since he met her, but in other ways she was still the same girl. He didn't doubt that everything they had gone through together had changed her as well.

"I am sorry to upset you Captain Hawke," he responded calmly now, without his arrogant tone, "but the sentiment was genuine, I really did miss you." His voice brought back memories to her and he knew that they were both thinking the same things now. She sat back down in her captains chair and he left the bridge as the past weighed on him. There were so many things he wished he could undo.

* * *

Lunamaria had been keeping to herself for the past few days and it seemed the only one to notice was Shinn. Ever since they had been forced to re-enter together without the Minerva things had been very tense for her. It was her sister's ship after all and she was very worried about what might happen to it without it's two mobile suit pilots. There was no one to protect them with the Destiny and the Impulse both here in ORB. The whole situation made her very nervous and as she waited for news to be brought back from the scouts she fretted more and more. They guessed that the Minerva was in souther Eurasia, a place Meyrin had been before so Luna wasn't worried about that part of the situation, she was worried about the ROW territory that was found there.

"They'll be alright Luna," Shinn said as he approached her. She was now in the ORB base's navigational room waiting for news from the latest group of scouts that had returned and he knew exactly what she was feeling now.

"I am worried about the Shinn," Luna replied, "I know Meyrin knows that area, I just can't help but worry about her chances. Things have changed so much since the last time she was there and she has no one to protect her from ROW. I hate just being stuck here waiting for her but with the Impulse damaged Athrun says he refuses to allow me to accompany the scouts." Shinn understood why Athrun had said that, Luna was too emotional over this and so many of them had been fighting their battles with too much emotion in the past few days. If she went out she would be more irrational than anyone else he could send and if the news they found wasn't great they could potentially loose Luna to her now rash attitude.

"I know you are Luna but it's better for you if you stay here," Shinn replied, "don't worry I know the scouts that are going out and if need be I'll go out myself but I really think everything is going to be alright."

"How can you say that so easily," Luna responded with sadness in her voice, "what if something happens to them?"

"Nothing is going to happen to her Luna," Shinn said acting before he really thought about it he hugged her, for the first time in a long time he held her close, "nothing bad is going to happen to her I promise you." Luna wrapped her arms around him as well, she had missed this comfort of being held by him. She had missed him more than she realized and now she wished that everything would just go back to the way it was before. That Meyrin would be home safe and that her and Shinn would have another chance to be together.

* * *

Ceveris stepped onto the deck of the Minerva and stared out over the waters as they passed by. The journey to sea had been an easy on of course since they were very near the coastline initially. Now there task would be to sail the Minerva back to ORB without letting the ship go down, as it was damaged this would be a much more difficult task. There was also the dynamic between him and Meyrin, something he knew would not go away easily no matter how much he wanted it to. She held him in such a small regard, she thought of him as the worst sort of person because of everything that had happened and everything she had seen in the wrong way. She didn't understand what it was he really was doing with his life, and she didn't take the time to understand, all she saw was someone who fought as a pirate and who cared about himself more than anyone else.

His thoughts now turned to Kira Yamato's boy. The child was very rash and Kiran reminded Ceveris of himself when he was young. The boy had proven that he could fight when pressed to but it was obvious that he wasn't very good but he had potential and it was that potential that Ceveris would have to train out of him. He doubted that the boy would want to listen to him but he also understood that the boy wouldn't sit out the next battle and there was sure to be another battle so he would have to act soon. As if fate understood what he was thinking Ceveris turned to see Kiran Yamato step out onto the deck.

Kiran seemed to look at him with resentment which he did not understand, the boy had judged him right off and he would have to correct it.

"I was just thinking about finding you," Ceveris said opening the conversation but Kiran didn't respond so he went on, "I was thinking about helping you with your mobile suit piloting. I could help train you, we are in this together and it would benefit us all if you got better."

"I don't want lessons from you," Kiran responded bitterly, "Meyrin doesn't even like you and she is my captain. We are allied with you because we don't have much other choice."

"So Meyrin got to you kid?" Ceveris said turning away and smiling at the irony of it all, "you don't even understand what went on between us kid. It was 13 years ago, Meyrin was in the area on a secret mission for Cagalli, investigating the area for signs of terrorists groups left over from Gibraltar. It was there that we met. She was captured by a group that was supplying Liene and I was a prisoner there who had been caught sneaking through the factories. My unit was 16 strong and we had been working on another secret project. Meyrin and I got along fast, I thought she was beautiful and perfect in every way but I teased her quite a bit and she got annoyed with me very quickly. Together we broke out of that prison and once we met with my unit we destroyed the factories."

"Then why is so so angry with you?" Kiran asked, "what else did you do?" Ceveris breathed out as he remembered it all.

"My unit was there for a secret reason," he said, "what I did after that she misunderstood and I have never explained to to her because it's not my place. Everything that happened had nothing to do with her and nothing to do with me, but everything to do with the fate of the world. There are things I still hold secret within my mind, secrets of a woman who will unite the forces of good and a prophecy that goes like this; par les cendres distancées et la mort dans son sillage, comme les flammes se fanent elle montera de nouveau."

"I don't understand?" Kiran asked a little confused. He didn't expect the cocky pilot to have such dept within his words. Something about what he was saying made Kiran believe him though he didn't want to.

"Par les cendres distancées et la mort dans son sillage, comme les flammes se fanent elle montera de nouveau," the man repeated, "it was something I was told a long time ago. I raided the factory of the weapons and sold them to the one who told me these words for the terrorists had made new discoveries and who was I to keep them for myself?" Kiran looked at him confused.

"So Meyrin believes you sold them for your own gain?" Kiran asked.

"Yes and in a way she is right," he responded with a slight laugh, "I was paid handsomely for my services but I lost the girl."

"What does the saying mean?" Kiran asked truly interested in the beautiful words the man had spoken, he had never heard anything like it before.

"The words are a french translation of a prophecy that was first spoken eighteen years ago after the first bloody valentine war," Ceveris responded, "the ending phrase elle montera de nouveau means, she shall rise again. I'm not exactly sure what it means but apparently the prophecy elludes to the ending of this all. A group called Redemption clings to that prophecy and hopes that it will be fulfilled. I personally do not understand it all but anything that counters ROW sounds good to me." Kiran shook his head at this. He wasn't sure he understood this man at all.

"And you want to train me?" Kiran said looking at him confused, he wasn't sure it would be easy to learn from this man but he knew what was important now. He needed to become stronger and this man offered to help him achieve that strength, it would be against his advantage to refuse this offer any longer.

"I will train you kid," Ceveris responded, "for you want to be trained don't you? You have all the potential to become a great mobile suit pilot, you just need someone to lead you on in it."

"Let's just get one thing straight," Kiran said with a little bit of annoyance in his voice, "I AM NOT A KID!" Ceveris stepped back as Kiran yelled at this and laughed. It was just as he thought, the boy was a lot like himself and would be one of the best mobile suit pilots. He would make sure of it.

* * *

_There was darkness, there was blackness. It was nothing, nothing but a small light in the distance calling for her but she was unable to move. It was hard to breathe and even harder for her to try and scream out but there was no one around to hear her. If this was death than why didn't hell claim her, for she knew there was no pace for her in heaven. She was somewhere else though in the dark trying to find a way out. Cold wind blew around her and she shivered from it._

_"Help me," she finally whispered when she found her voice, "please." No response. She felt her knees grow very weak and she turned to steady herself but there as nothing to grab. A sound surrounded her, an echo, something reaching out to her._

_She heard it as a voice calling her name over and over, a voice she recognized as his, the boy whom had died. Uzumi was calling for her. Suddenly it got worse the light was dimming and her breath was growing very shallow. Was this what it was like to die? She breathed quicker as she found it harder and harder. Soon she felt like she was suffocating, like her lungs refused to work and she felt to her knees grasping her throat with one hand and her burning side with the other as she chocked on the emptiness that was around her. Her vision of the light in the distance was beginning to fade as she saw a silhouette walking toward her and she tried with all her strength to take in another breath but nothing was coming. This was the end, she was beginning to fade out now, if she wasn't dead before she was dying now. It was then that she felt two arms wrap around her and someone pulled her frail form close, willing the signs of life she was loosing to return to her._

_"Hold on," his voice whispered and though it was hard she found herself able to take another breath, this she held in not wanting to let go of it as she grasped for the person that was holding onto her and his arms tightened around her as if he would never let her go. Tears streamed from her eyes in the pain of it all as she found her lungs were slowly beginning to work again but she was chocking. She felt like she was going to die here when suddenly an energy flowed through her body and a violet glow filled the surrounding area. "That's it, come on Meiko fight it," his voice said, "let your light destroy it all. Fight." The words he had spoken to her in life, he spoke to her again on the edge of death and she felt a burning inside of her as the glow intensified and her breath returned to her, Uzumi's words had broken the light in her and the breath of life was returning to her lungs. "That's it Meiko, keep fighting. It's going to be alright, just keep fighting it." It was bright it was taking over everything and the darkness around her was fading as the glow rushed through it all but such powerful energy she could not contain forever and everything was black again but this time as she fell into sleep her heart beat was steady and life flowed through her once again._

Milady sat in shock as she watched the machines show that there was no sign of life coming from her patient again. They were almost to the base, this couldn't happen now. She jumped up and called for the doctor who rushed in at the sound of her voice. The nurses rushed about at the doctors orders doing everything they could to bring her back. A blip of life came as one heartbeat sounded. Milady held her hands together and silently prayed for another miracle when suddenly a violet glow filled the patients eyes and surrounded her. The doctors jumped back in surprise as in an instant all their machines showed life. The rhythmic beat of a heart was heard from the beeps of a monitoring machine. She lived again.

"I though for sure this time," the doctor said still stunned, "we lost her. She should be dead!"

"No," Milady responded, "not this time, not anytime. She will live, no matter what comes her way she will live again and this time her life will be brighter than anything the world has ever seen. Set our course to earth." Yzak smiled at this and floated out of the medical center but as he was leaving he heard Milady whisper one last time, words that he had heard before, "And she will rise again."

"Elle montera de nouveau," he whispered echoing her words as he floated down toward the bridge, "the prophecy fulfilled."

* * *

**Moving more and more into it. I'm excited about what's coming. Who knows I might be able to keep up steady updates through school.**

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**There are some of you who haven't been reviewing. I want to say that I love reading reviews, they really really really help me in my self esteem about this story. To the people who do review, continue doing it because I seriously do a happy dance every time I read a reveiw and esspecially reviews that shows that someone has really thought about the chapter.**

**Ok, now that my rant is done. Thank you for reading to this point**

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**-WinterChill  
**


	28. Angel

**Sorry for the long wait, School seems to kick up a notch every week and I was stuck on the opening of this chapter for awhile. I could not decide for my life whether or not to open on a battle sequence or not. Well the ending of the chapter is my favorite scene ever.  
**

Phase 27: Angel

* * *

"Sailing has been smooth so far," Meyrin said explaining their situation to her crew, "if things remain so we could make it to an ORB outpost here along the coast of Africa within a few days, after that we will be able to speak to Athrun and Cagalli in order to decide the best course of action. Heaven knows they've probably been worried sick about us, I only pray things haven't changed that much." Ceveris nodded at he words and the rest of the crew acknowledged it with releif.

"From what we understood there in Eurasia ORB's only real worry right now is the PLANTs," Ceveris said thinking about the situation that was at hand, "you guys beat ROW bad, Liene will probably lick his wounds and bide his time. In the meantime the PLANTs can catch ORB off guard with full strength, they haven't fought a real battle since Gibraltar and they're fresh." Meyrin understood this well, the ZAFT forces had been sitting on their hands waiting for a chance to fight. A Solider without a war was ridiculous, a solider held back for two long would be fire once he was released. She had experienced this in her time in ZAFT, the soldiers there were more dangerous than any other. ROW was tainted by robotics and naturals, a ZAFT force would be ten times as hard to face as ROW had been at this point and part of her wondered if the PLANTs could have crushed ROW years ago.

"I don't think the PLANTs will make any move this soon after we just attacked ROW," Meyrin replied, "that wouldn't' look good at all and Jayley wants to keep her image up for now, after all she is newly elected." Ceveris scoffed at this sentiment and replied.

"The fact is Jayley has control now," he said stepping forward, "Control of everything in the PLANTs, she no longer needs the public approval and she really never did. She had the media on her side and they are selling her every move to the people. They will see nothing but her greatness as long as she has that, she controls them. The only reason the PLANTs would not move now is if Jayley herself is controlled by Liene as we all suspct she is." Meyrin understood this, if Liene hoped to control the world he wouldn't want to see it destroyed by anti coordinator sentiments. These sentiments would rise if the PLANTs attacked any nation on earth. There were still some tensions about coordinators even after both wars and Lacus as Chairwoman had lessened the tensions by keeping ZAFT away from earth completely. She had worked to keep the relations between the coordinators and the naturals friendly and she had been able to accomplish so much for the PLANTs and for peace.

"Where's the kid?" Ceveris asked looking around noticing that Kiran was not there. Meyrin was a bit uneasy about how Ceveris had seemingly taking Kiran under his wing, she wasn't sure what the man's intentions were but she had no choice but to trust him. Kiran was a smary boy but Meyrin knew he was desperate to get stronger so that he could fight like his father, such a desperation would lead Kiran to trust Ceveris with his life as long as the older man took on the role of a mentor.

"He went out for some air, and I think Alicesia followed," Meyrin responded still feeling a bit uncomfortable about it all.

* * *

They were getting closer and closer to being out of danger, yet he still felt as though something bad was getting ready to happen. Meyrin seemed confident that they could make it now that they had Ceveris and he prayed that she was right. Kiran was anxious to know exactly how everyone was, they had been out of contact with his family and he didn't even know if they all had made it out of the crossfire. He prayed that nothing bad had happened to them. He stood on the deck of the Minerva now again lifting his head up to feel the breeze and relishing in the calmness of the water.

"Kiran," he turned to see Alicesia behind him and smiled as she approached. The two had gone through quite a lot together at this point and they were inseperable. He considered her his best friend and she considered him hers.

"I was just thinking about home," he said knowing that she wanted to ask what he was doing out here. He saw it in her eyes now the way she looked at him.

"We might make it out of this uncertainty soon," she replied with a smile putting a hand on his shoulder, "and you'll get to see your family again and I'll get to see my sister. I'm sure they made it all out, they're strong." Kiran knew what she said was most likely true, his family was very strong. The only person he was really worried about now was Yaro, for that was the person who had lost the most. He knew his older brother and he knew that through everything in his heart that Yaro still always loved Meiko and always would. There was something about the two, a connection that Kiran had witnessed, something not even they could really see or understand but it was clearly there. Kiran had been shocked to learn what Meiko was for she had always seemed so small but he realized it was because she was always so broken.

"But what about Yaro?" Kiran asked aloud knowing that Alicesia didn't really have the answers, "I dont' know how he is now. If he did survive I expect that he's broken. Alice, he loved her and she sacrificed everything for us, for people she didn't even know and for him because she thought him as more important than herself. I just can't see him taking that well at all, he's always been one to break under extreme circumstances and what happened is a real tragedy."

"She's a hero," Alicesia replied with conviction in her voice, "her sacrifice will be remembered for ever, for she didn't love her life so much as to shrink from death. What we draw from this and what we must hope Yaro has draw from this is the strength and will to march ahead always remembering what those who have gone before us gave up for our lives. As long as I live I hope never to see another person in the position Meiko was in, but if it came down to you or myself I know which way I would go." Kiran nodded in agreement, she was his best friend and he knew that if the choice was to save her or himself he would save her.

"I know I would do the same thing," Kiran said turning back toward the sea, "I only pray that choice never comes for either of us."

* * *

It had heart, it was stirring as it played out into the air. Her heart drove her on and the sorrow around her caused it to take form once again, she had thought it was finished but now she wasn't sure. Everything around her was telling her to give up hope for the future but something within her saw it plain as day. There were no piano's in space that she knew of so now was her last chance to figure it out, what was her heart and what was it that she desired. She was Leyas Yamato, she was the second born child of Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne, she was once the princess of the PLANTs and she was still just a little girl. She was quite, she was strong but at the same time she was weak. No one saw the things she went through and she faced the dark alone except for the weapon that would always be by her side, the weapon of song. Today she hammered away at the keys her fingers moving gracefully and swiftly as a tune of sorrow, hope and confusion played out once again. This was the tune that Meiko had given her when their minds had connected for that day that everything changed.

She played on as her own doubts rose. ROW had beaten them back, ROW had killed her cousin and ROW was now there in the distance waiting for the opportunity to strike at them. Amidst it all she had no way of ever really being safe because of her blood, because of who she was. Something she had no control over. Something she hated, she would never have a choice but to be this person. She would never have a choice but to be the daughter of two people whose lives were in constant danger. She felt so much pain over that simple fact, so much sorrow, so much regret and in the end anger. No one out there really knew what this meant, she was significant in a way that she would never be able to change. She had never minded it before because it handed her a stage to sing but she realized now that every time she sang she was compared to her mother and that as well could not be changed.

Her thoughts then turned to the war as she continued through the song. They had lost so much to a series of battles in space, so much that they would never be able to regain. She had witnessed so much sorrow, so much death, and the innocence that she had held before it all was now gone. She was scared by the things she had seen. Leyas Yamato was the song that she played, she was scarred, she was pained, and she had so much doubt within her, so many questions. This was the song that Meiko had given her, and she felt now what it was that Meiko had always felt, she felt trapped and cornered. ROW sought the death of all she held dear and there was no way for her to change it, no way for her to correct it and no way for her to bring peace through her own strength. She couldn't even fight in a mobile suit the way Yaro and Uzumi had, she just sat in a position that anyone could operation, in the position of communications. She longed to fight back the darkness that descended on the world but she had no way to do so and this is what trapped her. She needed to break out of the feelings that she felt now and she knew she had a great advantage on Meiko, no one was forcing her into anything and she had people around her who were there to support her through whatever it was she chose to do. It was still all too much and in that moment her piece stopped before reaching an ending and she was overwhelmed by tears. She tried to wipe them away at first but soon she buried her face in her hands and wept.

She sat there crying uncontrollably when she heard a crash in the back of the auditorium and looked up quickly to see Trey was standing there, he had accidentally knocked over a couple chairs and he looked a little embarrassed at this moment.

"I was just leaving," he said trying to explain himself, "I heard you playing and I thought it was beautiful." He nodded then and was about to turn and leave when she stopped him.

"Wait," she said and her sweet voice echoed through the auditorium and he stopped and turned back to her waiting for whatever she asked now. He saw that she was broken and something was bothering her, who was he to turn down anything she desired now, "will you come closer and listen?" She asked this simply of him motioning to the extra space on the piano bench. He nodded and walked up the stage and sat down beside her. She wiped more tears from her eyes and begun. It was unlike anything he had ever heard before, she sweet melody of a life. Her fingers moved beautifully in patterns unlike anything he had ever seen before. She knew this instrument very well indeed. He had heard of Leyas Yamato before, that she could play and sing better than anyone in the world. Her skill was unmatched and he saw that skill on the piano now. When the song ended he knew that he had just witnessed something truely beautiful.

"That was amazing," he said and she wiped more tears from her eyes as her hands moved away from the ivory keys to rest in on the bench of the piano on both sides of her. She looked at him and he saw something within her eyes that he had seen countless times before, something about her so much like someone he knew yet so different at the same time. It confused him but he knew that he wanted to understand more about her.

"That song," she said in such a small voice it was like a whisper, "is Meiko's. For I wrote it when she was there, she was inside my head and I was inside hers. I don't know what it was. Something connected us for that moment and out of it came this. Out of it came a song that mirrored my life but mostly one that expressed her life. I've tried countless times to write it, to understand it but every time I play it it comes out a little different, as if it is constantly changing and sifting. It's my own heart that is changing and I don't know what to do about everything. The only thing I have is this here, I have music." She didn't know what made her open up to him, but she knew she felt safe with him there.

"I heard it Leyas," he replied, "I heard everything." More tears streamed from her eyes as he wished that he could make it so she didn't have to feel this way but he knew very little of what to say or how to change this for her. He had failed with Meiko and he would not allow himself to fail to understand someone again.

"What was she like?" Leyas asked him, "Why is it that we can't forget her even though she's gone? What is it about her that makes everyone around her feel so much?" It was a question he had asked himself so many times, a question he could never answer.

"She cared Leyas," he replied remembering the face of the girl of which they both spoke, "she cared so much. She never wanted anyone to feel what she did yet at the same time it was as if she couldn't help but showing them who she was. Her eyes shined with a hope that was astounding in her hopeless situation. She was so pure and many tried to protect her from everything that was against her yet in that final moment there was nothing we could do. There was no way to stop her destiny."

"But this was her destiny," Leyas replied her hands hovering over the ivory keys once again, "The song does not end in death, but rather in hope." Leyas played out the ending again and he listened once again astounded. There was something about this girl that was amazing to him. She had a prescence that was unmistakable but in that moment of hearing the ending of the song and hearing the hope that Meiko portrayed he knew exactly what it was that this meant.

"Because Meiko left the world with hope," Trey said, "so much hope. Leyas there is nothing to be afraid of. We will continue to fight on for the truth of what is coming." This was something she did not expect, he saw her fear. More tears came to her eyes and this time he did embrace her allowing her to cry and knowing that she was one of the most precious things left in the world. She was Leyas Yamato, she was the daughter of Kira and Lacus and she was still a little girl. Her violet eyes were clear and through them he saw everything that she felt now and he longed to protect her from the darkness that was coming. For though he spoke words of hope he knew that there was no way to escape the storm that would once again rage around them.

* * *

He walked the shoreline slowly as in his mind he saw what it may become. ORB was in an uneasy peace; the Clyne faction was leaving them for now and the PLANTs were still applying pressure on them for their involvement with his mother and today Yaro felt as though he couldn't focus on all that. Something else was calling him now, what it was he knew not but he felt it on the wind. He had fought with those he loved most in the past few days and he knew his choices were hurting them but he also knew that he had no way of expressing what it was he felt to them. He did not understand how to explain himself he only knew that his actions were being determined by a much greater force than the will of those whom he loved.

What hurt him worst now was that his father did not understand him, Kira was usually supportive of Yaro's decisions and yet now he treated Yaro like he was still that unruly child that the family had adopted. Yaro was known as a sweet boy as a child but there was a part of him that was always a trouble maker. He could not resist the urge of playing a good joke on one of his siblings or doing crazy things when he was in school. He was a great student and a great athlete but he had an interesting reputation, when the family left the PLANTs everything was so serious that he left all that behind and he grew up. The gravity of the situation confused everyone around him. He was very different now as if something had surfaced within him leading him on into the darkness without fear of what might happen. He had experienced anger and hatred on levels he never thought possible and he had broken out of it. He had faced death and made it out alive and he had lost two people that were most dear to him and he did not let it beat him. This strength he himself did not understand and he doubted it came from those who had raised him, for it couldn't be taught it was engrafted into every fiber of his being.

He walked now slower following where this invisible force was leading him, up the cliffs from where he came and deeper into ORB. His mind turned to Kiran, his little brother and him had never been very close. The relationships between him and his family were pretty normal, he was protective over his two sisters and when Kiran antagonized them he usually sided with them. He developed a close relationship with Leyas as her big brother and the two had often schemed together, she was so fragile sometimes and it was hard for him to see her cry the other day but she didn't see what he was trying to tell her.

Leyas was so much like Kira, so very sensitive. He believed that she would never be able to handle fighting inside a mobile suit and he prayed that she would never try. In a do or die situation she would never be able to pull the trigger against anyone. She was a musician and her voice was her weapon but she did not posses the authority of her mother. She hated politics and no one could ever see her taking the route of her mother. Yaro often wondered what it was she wanted out of life, she used to tell him so many things about what she was planning, he was her big brother and she was his baby sister but now she and him had grown apart. Her appeal to him was unexpected, and he wasn't sure what to say to her so he told her the truth and she felt it as a hurt against her. He fragile heart begged him to protect them but he refused and in that refusal he had broken his role as her older brother.

Now Kiran was gone, Leyas and Kiran weren't as close as Leyas and Yaro but there was a sort of twin bond between them. They worked together better than most and though they fought often as children everyone always knew that it was because they would hate it of they were separated from the other. Then there was Kayla, she was protected by all in the family yet she was the most distant from the three older siblings. Something about her was just different to them all, as if she was wiser than the rest yet she was the baby. Yaro remembered teaching her the ABC's and now she was teaching them all how to behave. She always understood more of what was going on than any of them yet she was not arrogant in any way, just innocent and voiced what she felt. No one knew exactly how she understood so much, it just sufficed that she did. Yaro remembered what had happened to her in space, how she had spoken to the PLANT advanced fleet with as much authority as his mother, authority no one in their family had picked up on. Kayla was the only one who could follow in her mothers footsteps, the one with the light inside of her that could unite the whole world in light. When all was said and done if they succeeded Yaro could see Kayla as the future, a girl so selfless and pure, so wise that no one could ever find anything bad to say about her. No one could stop her light. It was clear to everyone that Kayla was the future if they could succeed in winning the upcoming battles she would grow up in the grace she possessed now.

As the feeling inside Yaro led him on these feelings so familiar possessed him as he reflected on everything he was, everything he could be and everything his family was. He had a brother, he had two sisters and he had once had two cousins. Uzumi was gone, the cousin that was most like him. They had become close as children when Uzumi was three and Yaro was six. Both possessed the same talent for getting away with playing pranks on those close to them and together they were unstoppable. After that they had spent every summer alternation between the PLANTs and ORB, together running around as wild children and as they grew up Uzumi became the calmest of them both. He had been effected by a lot that had happened in ORB. When Uzumi was twelve he had witnessed an uprising in a country he had visited with his mother and ever since that day he began to take life more seriously. Unlike Yaro, Uzumi had grown up with a full fledged solider for his father.

The differences between Athrun and Kira were shown in their children. Athrun joined the military at a young age and in that position he had become much harder. He was better at handling the death around him. He coped with it so much better than his friend. Kira on the other hand was no solider, he was a very gifted child and a student who was forced to fight when a situation got desperate. He didn't want his children to face war ever and Lacus agreed with him. They had raised their kids as if the peace would never end, focusing on the education and opportunities, leaving out the skills of survival on a battlefield. Athrun had not done this, both Uzumi and Jeffery had been trained as soldiers from the age six on up. Athrun had trained them himself, teaching them how to fight in a mobile suit and how to act on the battlefield.

Uzumi was ready for a fight at all times and by age twelve after six years of that training he had changed so much. Him and Yaro were still close but something about him was always different. Yaro never knew what it was but he had heard Uzumi once describe darkness and now that he looked back Yaro saw that Uzumi always knew that he was fated to die. Someone it was inside Uzumi's mind, some feeling had told the boy for three years that he did not have much time left in the world. The darkness he had fought, that he had tried to hide from everyone was a warning of fate telling him to hurry up and live because he was soon to die. That was why Uzumi was so filled with light, because he knew that he didn't have much time.

How he lived life with this burden was hard for Yaro to understand but now he stood before Uzumi's grave, the place his feelings had led him to. The place where the nation had stood after his death, a place that Yaro knew held the body of a fallen hero.

"Uzumi," he said the boys name as the wind around him picked up speed. What would Uzumi have done in his position now? What path would Uzumi had chosen if it had been Yaro to die? Would Uzumi have fought to kill Meiko or would he have taken a different path? And what path would he have taken if he had seen Meiko's sacrifice. Yaro could still see her face so clearly in his mind, her violet eyes so filled with depth, so open and bare as windows. She had let him see into her soul and he had betrayed her in it all but she never blamed him for one moment and by grace she had saved him. He had made peace with his memory of her on that day for he knew that if he dwelled on it that it would destroy him and the people around him would suffer from it.

Now he stood on the edge of his life, knowing that things were so very different than they had been before and now he was at peace. He did not know how to tell his family the truth of how he had changed so much but he knew that as time went on they would understand. They were his family. He was Kira and Lacus's son and though he was adopted he knew that loved him as if he was their own, and that love that they had as his family would allow them to see the truth of his life soon enough. Darkness could not stand in the light of the love that his family possessed, all they needed was time.

"I see," he heard a small voice behind him and turned around to see Kayla, her short pink hair floating around her with the wind and her lime green eyes burning into his soul. He had not expected to see her out here, the family never usually let her wander alone and he didn't see anyone else in sight.

"Kayla!" Yaro said in surprise, "what are you doing out here all alone." She smiled at him innocently as if she had done nothing wrong.

"I'm not alone," she responded with a slight smile, "I'm with you silly, I told daddy you were taking me for a walk and I followed you here. You see you're my biggest brother and I felt like you needed some company. When left alone to our thoughts we can find ourselves in dangerous places. You know what I mean Yaro, you've spoken things in your mind that you regret now." How was it that someone so young could understand that? This was the mystery that was Kayla.

"Everyone else does not understand," Yaro found himself saying, not knowing why he was opening up to her. She was the youngest, the one who was the least likely to understand.

"They love and care about you Yaro and they don't want anything bad to happen to you," Kayla responded looking back toward Uzumi's grave, "they are worried about you just as I am. That's why I followed you. We all know how much Uzumi and Meiko both meant to you, and we know that it can't possibly be easy for you to carry on without them. Your decisions seem irrational to all because we expect you to do something then you do the exact opposite. I heard you and Leyas arguing the other day and I decided that I didn't really understand so I decided to try." Yaro wasn't sure how the little girl had made this conclusion but everything she said was true.

"It's a driving force inside my mind," Yaro spoke telling his young sister everything he felt, "I can't see it but I can feel it. It's leading me now Kayla, I can't explain it but I feel as though there is a part of me that is missing and that my mind is leading me to it. I want to know who I am Kayla, and I know now that someone out there knows. My past, my real family, the information of who I was born to be has to be there somewhere."

"What if you find what you are looking for and you don't like what you find?" Kayla asked him, it was a question he hadn't yet heard from anyone. He never imagined that he would find anything terrible once he went searching. He could only think about what his adoptive family was, it was the only vision he had of family.

"I don't think…" she interrupted him with authority.

"I told you I see," Kayla said a determination in her eyes, "I see more than most. I see your heart Yaro and I've dreamt dreams of the past. It's darkness Yaro, there is only darkness. I fear if you follow this feeling inside of you that everything you know now will change and everything that is will be revealed and when that happens everything that was will be destroyed. You do not know the forces you play with, fate rescued you and brought you to peace for a reason, if you stumble backwards what gain is there in everything you've been given? Heed this warning Yaro, I saw a dream of you and I think I understand it. You must not search for the past, you must realize that the future is all that's important."

"How can I just ignore the truth of who I am?" Yaro asked, "if there is a chance for me to discover it…" She interrupted again.

"If there is a chance it will come from one who dwells in the darkness," Kayla protested and her authority caused him to take a step back, "and if that happens you will slip away from us all. You will abandon us all and fade away into an identity of someone else." He did not understand what she was saying now, he only knew that she was speaking from her heart and from the things that she had seen. Somehow this little girl knew something about the future and he knew that she would persist in this.

"Then I should forget it all?" he asked, "I should forget the past."

"You have no memory of the past," Kayla replied, "so that shouldn't be too hard for you." His emotions were all over the place but at the moment he identified one as fear. If everything Kayla said was true his past was not something he wanted to discover. If everything she had seen was true then he would loose all that he was. Could he really forget it all? She was asking him to. She was commanding him to.

"Then I swear to you Kayla," he spoke now out of his fear for what she had said, "I will not search for the past anymore."

"That's not what I need Yaro, for you may find that no matter how hard you try to avoid things they will come to pass if fate wills it," Kayla responded holding out her hands as if to show him something, "I need you Yaro to swear to Uzumi's grave that no matter what happens, no matter if the past finds you or not that you will not let the darkness beat you. I need you to swear that you won't let anyone lie to you, that you won't let anyone tell you that you are anything else than what you are Yaro. Swear to me and to Uzumi that you will never let your light go out. Swear it Yaro!" It seemed simple enough.

"I swear on Uzumi's grave no matter what happens, no matter what comes my way," he began, "I will never let my light go out." She listened to his words and prayed in her heart for him for she knew it would be easier said than done.

* * *

"So now you see why I just don't know what to do about him," Kira stood with Athrun on a balcony of the Attha mansion staring out toward the ocean. Kira had just described his situation with Yaro to Athrun, explaining to his best friend how the boy had been acting. Athrun Zala thought about it all, Yaro had been hard to predict for all of them his entire life. As he was adopted Athrun believed he probably took after his biological parents more than any of them realized, because of this he wasn't sure that they would ever be able to really understand everything about Yaro.

"Are you sure you can't just reason with him some more?" Athrun asked thinking about Yaro's odd behavior while in ORB, "perhaps he's just trying to get attention. He lost a lot and I wouldn't expect him to be this strong yet." Kira wished that was just it, if Yaro only wanted attention he would he able to deal with it but Yaro was determined to break away from the control of his family. He was determined to be rebellious about the issue and it was getting worse as time went on. He seemed to blame his family for everything, he often spoke his disagreement with their plans to head to space and he skipped family dinners more and more often. They had a hard time keeping track of him as he seemed to be all over the place. Kira had tried talking to him again but he had avoided a deep discussion. There was a certain coldness in the boy's eyes that Kira did not like seeing. It was as if Yaro thought that Kira did not understand a thing he was talking about, as if the boy didn't want to even try and explain himself anymore. Lacus had been successful at speaking to him and she had told Kira that Yaro believed that they just did not understand why he had to fight for ORB; she said he believed that he would have a chance to find himself if he learned who he was outside of their family.

"I can't reason with him," Kira sighed looking out at the nature of the land before him, "I've been through a lot but I've never had a father really there for me that understood it all. I can't relate to his situation at all and maybe I am being unfair in trying to take him off the path he thinks is best. I never wanted him to repeat my mistakes, but now I see that he will make different one's than I did. I just don't know." Athrun understood Kira's sentiments, he had never wanted his sons to make his mistakes either. He had held on to both of his boy's and raised them the best he could but in the end he was unable to keep Uzumi from death. There was nothing he could do now but watch over Jeffery and hold onto the only child he had left. He wanted to help Kira with his situation now but he had never had a word of rebellion from Uzumi and Jeffery was still to young to want to break away. His thoughts turned to Yaro's past.

"He asked me to find his real parents," Athrun said surprising Kira, it had not entered his mind that Yaro might want to know that information, he had always been a happy child and he had never questioned it before. "I searched records, I spoke to Reverend Malchio and the only lead I got was that a woman named Rayla Frost was the one to drop him off at the orphanage. The reverend did not know where she was, but he knew she wasn't the boy's mother." The name shocked Kira as memories of Mars flashed through his mind and everything Yzak had said. Everything seemed to be haunted by her.

"Rayla Frost!" he declared confusing Athrun, he didn't understand how Kira could know the name that he could find no records of.

"Do you know her?" Athrun asked quickly as Kira's breathing seemed to increase and he turned to Athrun with a look of complete shock. This was something he had not expected, Kira only saw her as the leader of Redemption but it seemed she was more involved with his life than he ever thought possible.

"When I was captured by ROW, Redemption rescued me and I did not understand them," Kira begun trying to reason it all out in his mind, "and as I told you Yzak is with them and he tried to explain them to me the best he could. He told me that the leader of the organization, Milady Redemption was once a ROW agent named Rayla Frost, and that she was John Liene's right hand before she realized what he was! Somehow Yaro is connected to her, somehow he is connected to them!" Athrun was shocked now, Yaro connected to Redemption and possible to ROW.

"Then if that's true..." Athrun began but Kira cut him off.

"Then we need to find Redemption and we have the answer," Kira declared, "the answer to everything. She knows more than she ever let on about ROW and she knows about Yaro's past! The key to defeating ROW has to lie with them, Yzak seemed to be skipping around some information."

"We can't get ahead of ourselves," Athrun replied as the last rays of the sun began to fade away, "there is still a chance that ROW will attack before we have a chance to get to Redemption. No matter what it is Rayla Frost knows, we need to secure her military alliance before asking questions." Kira understood what Athrun was saying now but he was feeling desperate. The world around him was chancing rapidly. He was leaving for space in the morning now but he couldn't think about that. His mind was focuse on the organization that had rescued him and the information they might hold. What he did not know is that there were some things that would be better if they were kept in the darkness, secrets of the past that could make or break a soul. So much more than any of them knew now.

* * *

Liene stood before space looking out toward the glow of light's reflection of earth. Ever since the battle against ORB it was as if a hardness and darkness loomed as a shadow above his head; he had witnessed something he always hoped he could avoid, the turning of Meiko and the destruction of a large part of one of his fleets by her. He had raised and trained her for so much more than this, yet her true origins had beat his rough training; she possesed the same spirit that drove her parents to their ruin. She wass filled with their light and as such she could not be stopped once she made up her mind. He had thought that he could beat it but it seemed he had been bested by fate. He could see Redemption laughing at him now, he had tried to tame the beast and had lost. If Meiko had lived and stayed in ROW he knew she would have gone mad and he craved what that would have unleased upon the world; power beyond their reckoning but now he had to content himself with the fact that she had died and would no longer be there to cause him any more problems.

"Liene," he turned to Gilligan Manchester enter, like his other commanders Gilligan had been shocked by everything that had taken place. It was beyond their calculations that Meiko's training would backfire so much on them, they lost the STING because of it. "I was wondering what out next course of action is, because so far all we've done is regroup with our forces. Are we launching any attacks? Are we going to use the PLANTs to get to ORB?"

"No," Liene said his voice showing now hint of emotion, "no attacks except the ones in the plan. Our militaristic advancements must continue through Eurasia if we are to take on the NEA soon. As for the PLANTs it would cause too much anti-coordiantor emnity at this time to use them to attack anywhere on earth. We are not trying to start another Valentine war, we don't want to pit coordinators and naturals against each other again and if the PLANTs were to attack earth there would be retaliations. I have sent Mike to ensure that Jayley doesn't make any moves, her anti ORB sentiments could be our undoing if we aren't careful."

"I don't trust her," Gilligan responded to that. He had always disliked Jayley, she had been too cocky through training and she was so full of herself it was sickening. Gilligan had argued against placing her in the PLANTs but she had more supporters than enemies. She had worked her way through the organization in a couple of years unlike the rest of them who had been there since the beginning, it was unnerving to him.

"Whether or not you trust her is irrelevant," Liene responded, "she was the most qualified for her position and she ascended to it with grace. Lacus Clyne had no way to fight her off and she now has complete control of ZAFT." Gilligan still didn't like it, no matter what Liene said.

"Meiko was strong to," Gilligan replied, "she was the best we had and what happened to her? She was the most qualified to go undercover in ORB and it changed her more than it should have. She learned how to feel more than she ever had because you said she would be perfect on that mission. We can't make the same mistake with anyone else Liene. We can't afford to have another agent turn the tables on us, first Rayla the Meiko; one more could send us over the edge." Liene understood what Gilligan was saying but he also knew that Gilligan missed the whole picture of it all. ROW expansion was powerful and even with the PLANT military Jayley really couldn't destroy him. There were things she didn't even know about.

"I made a lot of mistakes with Rayla," Liene said thinking about the girl that now opposed him, "I guess mistakes tend to repeat themselves in not entirely unexpected ways. I should have been able to see Meiko's hatred for me before letting her fight out that last battle. I should have been able to save my father, my wife, my sons. There are so many things that should have happened but they didn't. I believe that fate is on my side though for Meiko did not live to cause any more damage as Rayla did. Together they would have broken us."

* * *

Kira Yamato stood beside Lacus at the head of the group that was preparing to depart. Several of the Clyne faction ships had already been launched into space and were awaiting the Eternal before departure to the Clyne faction's back up base. There they would be met by Terminal who had agreed to assist Lacus and Kira with the design of a new mobile suit that the Clyne faction had been so far unable to finish. The ORB council was there was well wishing them a safe journey into space. There was a great deal of tension about with the developments and there were those in the group who believed that the Clyne faction should remain in ORB but they had made their plans and they were executing them.

As they stood there Kira looked toward Yaro who stood beside his aunt and uncle wearing a blank expression. Kira had tried reasoning with him again and gotten no response from the boy, he tried to understand everything but now he left his son in the hands of his best friend and his sister. He knew Yaro would be safe but he still desired to understand what it was that drove him on. Perhaps it would always be a mystery.

"We wish you a safe journey, and know that whatever lies ahead we are allies," Cagalli said stepping forward as representative for her country.

"If you need us send for us," Lacus replied diplomatically, "for our faction will remain friends with your nation through what lies ahead." With that the group boarded, Kira looked back as he walked up the ramp toward Yaro who had turned to walk away. Today Kira was leaving behind his son to whatever lay ahead. These moments would define who Yaro would become and the choices that he would make as time continued. For everything was uncertain now and life had a way of changing everything.

* * *

Milady stood erect as Yzak and her top technicians began the final tests and stages. It had been a long process, it had been an impossible seeming one, but they had come out once again and it now was before her glistening on the screens and in all it's glory. Glowing gold and green, the final piece in her ultimate plan. It's system was perfected, it's weaponry advanced beyond anything out there and it's design flawless. The system was the real gem within it's design, all that it required was someone strong enough to handle it's operation and she knew the very person who would be able to use this machine for ultimate good and right. It was a day she always prayed to see but one she was not sure was possible, but now that it was here she felt a peace and strength inside her heart and she knew that she had been right to pursue the creation of this machine.

"It's so beautiful," Milady said expressing her admiration for the work. Yzak took in the sight as well as the technitions stood proud of their work. The hardships that had gone into this had paid off in a more amazing way than any of them had expected.

"It's everything that we ever hoped for," the lead technician repiled opening up documents containing details on the system of the new glistening machine before them, "five long years in the making, every moment of it worth the ending we got from this. She is truely magnificent is she not? My only concern is that we don't have a pilot than can opperate the backup system. Liene used the S System in diabolical ways, our version is called the SM Escape and it is much tamer than what he installed. In fact it is completely operated by the user instead of an outside force, the power emitted is too high for any natural and perhaps for any coordinator." Milady did expect this, she knew it would be powerful when the information was stolen for ROW. Liene had used an advanced theory about the super seed to try and control Meiko's movements using it with the robotics technology. Her own technicians had used the same advaned theory to create a deadly weapon which could be used in extreme cases. She wondered how anyone could handle it but she knew of one person who for sure could.

"It's name will be Redemption," Milady expressed, "and we will find someone to operate it, someone stronger than most. Like a Phoenix it will rise out of ashes. This machine will herald the Redemption of the world and with it at our lead we will be able to win every battle we enter. Liene has no way of stopping us now." Yzak looked at her confidence with a bit of worry, they had succeeded where Liene had failed but he wasn't convinced that it was over yet because of this machine. There were still some factors that would have to be worked out.

"Don't get to sure he doesn't have any backup plans," Yzak replied catching Milady off guard, "for he knows we got this information. I have a feeling that there are still forces at work in the world that may turn things around on us. We must stay wary and not get ahead of ourselves."

"Of course Yzak," she responded looking back toward the marvelous machine, "we will continue to be wary but for now here on earth in this base we may rest easy, for the light is beginning to shine around us."

* * *

Yaro walked along the halls of the military outpost. The ORB military had moved him in as soon as his family had taken off, he had gotten a room to himself for now but he knew once he was assigned to a ship he would be given a room mate. Of course the past few days with his family had been full of tension from Kira and Leyas, Kayla seemed to take his decision with grace while Lacus tried to act as peacemaker between the two parties. It seemed that Kira thought he could change Yaro's mind by bringing up the subject every chance he could; Yaro in resort had asked Kayla to talk to him but she seemed content to let everyone do whatever pleased them. There was something turely strange about her.

Now Yaro breathed a sigh of relief that he was finally here, in the military and beginning this new journey on his own, he saw this as a huge opportunity to learn and grow and he knew that this would define his life. He walked on through the halls trying to find the number that he was supposed to go to in order to meet with his superiors. It seemed he would be getting assigned sooner than he had thought. Apparently the military estimated that something huge was going to happen soon and they wanted to make sure they had every solider ready for that time.

"I heard you had joined but I wasn't sure everyone was right," he turned to see Jacob Gladys standing down the other end of the hall. Yaro and Jacob had met before, multiple times but the two were not much more than acquaintances. Jacob was two years older than Yaro. Apparently after the second bloody valentine Jacob's mother had been killed and has asked Murrue Ramius to look in on her son. Murrue was planning on making sure the boy had a suitable home but after spending time with him she decided to adopt him. He had grown up with Mu and Murrue as his parents and he had been a member of the ORB military now for a few years.

"Yeah I joined," Yaro replied, "I wanted a change." Jacbo nodded at this, he understood what it was like to want to get out on his own. He had joined the ORB military years before and had been assigned under an ORB captain that was not his mother, after a few years on his own he transfered to the Archangel. He had gotten his fill of life on his own and calmed down. It was a natural thing for a boy to want to break free at eighteen, esspecially if he's been codeled since he was adopted and Yaro had Lacus as a mother.

"I know what it's like," Jacob said walking forward, "but you'll find the military is not all it's cracked up to be. I heard you were given the machine that was meant for Uzumi, I saw them designing it, it's really impressive."

"It really is amazing," Yaro replied, "I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it."

"Well mobile suit advancements now are incredible," Jacob responded, "I heard some factions are even experimenting with short ranged teleportation in hopes to instal it into a mobile suit. It's a slim chance they will ever be able to move obejcts from one location to another, the theory is very flawed and unrealistic."

"Yeah I don't think that will ever pick up," Yaro said thinking about the idea of it, "I mean they can't even successfully install two nuclear drives onto one mobile suit with out the output being impossible to operate. Something that moves fast enough to mimic teleportation could maybe be made but the human body wouldn't be able to handle it. Speed can be very dangerous, especially in battle." Jacob nodded at this when he saw the paper in Yaro's hand.

"Were you trying to get somewhere?" Jacob asked.

"Yeah I have a meeting with some officers in a few minutes," Yaro replied, "no big deal."

"You're in the military now," Jacob responded with disbelief, "you were summoned, you must be there on time. This isn't like high school, there are punishments for disregarding orders. Get going!" Yaro straightened up at this, he hadn't really thought about it that way, without saying anything he hurried down the hall, time to get his orders.

* * *

Mike Shustre had been told to stay here in the PLANTs until further orders from Liene. He would have been more comfortable with that if it weren't for Jayley, while she hadn't talked to him any more about her own plans every time he saw her it was as if she was expecting him to bring it up. He had lived his whole life based on the whims of those around him and now he was stuck between three different paths, a path with ROW, a path with Jayley and a path outside of it all, living life on his own. In the back of his mind he had all the reasons why he should ignore Jayley's request of alliegence, he did not know what she wanted and he had no way of knowing if her intentions were honorable or not. On the other side his mind could not deny that everything she had said was true. It seemed that all events were converging to a height and that at this rate the world would be destroyed by a war between ROW, ORB, the Clyne faction, Redemption and the other factions in the world. Jayley alluded to the destruction of the main factions, taking out ROW, the Clyne faction and Redemption. If they were destroyed the war would end, for there would be no ROW to pollute the governments of the world and there would be no Clyne faction trying to keep the world in their definition of peace.

His thoughts turned to Redemption, he had helped Rayla escape and she had created this organization, now he felt responsible for the things the organization had done. Redemption did not appear to be helping the situation in the world at all in his mind, they caused confusion with the different factions of the world and confusion within his own heart. Rayla had abandoned him and yet he had protected Meiko for her, he had stayed in ROW for her and in the end she gave him nothing in return. He had been used not only by her but by everyone else. It would serve them right if he backed Jayley and destroyed them all forever but something else held him back, it was her.

Meiko Virea held him back now, because even though she was gone he still remembered everything very clearly, everything she had done. She had found the strength to forgive herself for the past, she had found the strength to forgive Yaro for trying to kill her and misunderstanding everything and she had found the strength to be the best of everyone and to sacrifice herself for people she barely knew. She had even had the chance to shoot Liene, she was good enough with a gun that when she had gone for the Pain she could have been the end of him, but she chose to let him watch as his plans shattered before his eyes. She chose to let him live to see her die, and she had become a martyr for everyone that had seen it. He could not decide what to do now because he didn't know how to be as strong as she had become. He now understood why she had been so long with ROW, because the decision of where to go next was never easy. Even now he felt that Meiko's legacy would last forever because of that one act.

He saw her face in his mind as she looked back from the Pain one last time before launching out, there was resolve there then there was nothing. It was as if she knew what was coming, that her life was somehow about to be snuffed out because there was no other choice before her. There was writing on the wall of her life that alluded to everything that she had done. She hadn't even wavered in her decision once it had been made for she had no fear of what lay beyond life; to her it couldn't be worse than the hell she had been forced to endure from birth. She deserved to have her name exalted from the heights of the world yet now people spoke it in whispers of amazement, sharing her deeds in the quietest way.

Nothing made any more real sense to him now. There were so many options of who to be and where to go but in the end he wasn't sure what he was going to do about it all. Who was he going to live for now? Now that Rayla had abandoned him and Meiko was dead.

* * *

"I'm Valeri Mayir," the girl in front of him said with a bouncy joyful expression, "and this is Tripp Giswig, we have all been assigned to the same unit! Isn't that so great! What's your name?" Yaro was a bit scarred now, he hadn't expected to be in the same unit as anyone who reminded him of a little girls sitcom character, there was no way this girl was a solider. The guy behind her seemed to wear a cool expression, not giving off the same odd energy as came from the crazy girl in front of him. He now was in the main hall of the military base where he had been told he would be assigned his unit, he just hadn't expected two other people near his age to be there.

"I'm Yaro," he responded to the girls question, wishing he could shut his ears to the reply that came afterward.

"Yaro! Great name! I'm so excited to be posted on a real ship! Have you ever been in a battle? Do you fight in a mobile suit to?" It was official he wanted to run for his life right about now, how he wished he had been assigned somewhere else...

"Knock it off Valeri," Tripp said in an annoyed tone finally speaking up, "you don't want to frighten him off."

"Tripp you're no fun!" she pouted, "i'm just getting acquainted. Oh look Mersha!" Valeri then ran off to greet another girl that had just entered the room and Yaro breathed a sigh of relief that the girl was gone. Tripp seemed to breathe one to as he turned to Yaro also a little glad that Valeri had been distracted at this time. He had heard from his father that Kira Yamato's adopted son would be joining this unit but he hadn't believed it until he saw Yaro enter. Tripp's father was George Giswig, the new captain of the Tranquility and a new special forces unit that would be assisting in the protection of ORB from the next enemy whom they believed was the PLANTs. It seemed the council wanted to take extreme defensive measures building up their military at an alarming pace because of everything that had happened in space. They had lost their prince and ROW had paid for that, now they would make sure the PLANTs didn't take advantage of them at this time.

"I'm sorry about Valeri, she can be quite a bit eccentric," Tripp said holding out a hand to Yaro, "it's nice to finally meet you, we've heard of your participation in the battle against ROW. That is me and my father have heard, he is the commander of this unit." Yaro accepted the boy's hand.

"Really?" Yaro said with a bit of surprise, "well do you know what our mission is now?"

"Not really," Tripp responded, "I'm still just another mobile suit pilot to them, they usually keep us in the dark until right before the mission takes place. I do know that we are being assigned to the Tranquility and that your mobile suit has caused quite a stir among the current crew members as it has been loaded onto the ship. Apparently it's one of the best things ORB's ever made." Yaro thought about the Dreamer, he knew it was just that. It had been made for Uzumi and it was clear by the beauty of the mobile suit design, he felt unworthy of it but he knew it would be a valuable tool to fight of the enemies of ORB in the future so he had accepted it.

"The Dreamer," Yaro said looking around the room at the other people who had been assembled here, "with that machine I will fight, for everything I believe in."

* * *

_She awakened in the cold and as her eyes opened she knew that this place was something out of a dream, for she had never been here and it made no sense that she would be here. Somehow her mind had been taking her through her past and now she settled her in a strange place._

_It was a dark forest, she could see the trees and a slight mist reflecting the moonlight above her that weaved it's way through the trees. She walked aimlessly confused and looked down and saw that she was wearing a golden dress that was long and flowed around her in a cloud of soft fabric with a few pieces of red details. Her long red hair hung around her shoulders in soft tousles. This place was filled with mystery as she stepped slowly through the trees toward the clearing where the moonlight was at it's height._

_She felt strange as she stepped from behind the trees. That is when she saw it, illuminated bt the moonlight was a graveyard with rows and rows of headstones, hundreds of dead. Suddenly she felt stabbing pain in her mind as the names on the stones all jumped out at her, some she recognized from her missions and others she didn't. She gripped her head and cried out in pain as she realized that this was a grave yard for all those who had died by her hand. The names moved faster and faster as she collapsed to the ground steadying herself with her arms and trying to fight it but it had a power over her. The names wouldn't leave her sight, she couldn't look away but now she could barely read them as they flashed in front of her at blinding speed then suddenly they stopped on one last one. Uzumi Zala. The pain left her head as the mist formed the name in front of her. She found herself with strength to stand up once again and she desired to run but she was held in place._

_Softly she felt a presence behind her as a hand was placed on her shoulder and then two arms wrapped around her moving her, turning her away from the graveyard and her past back toward the forest._

_"Don't look back," a soft voice said and she suddenly felt safe as the arms unrapped and placed a hand on her shoulder moving her foward and leading her on from behind. The dark forest got darker and colder but she wasn't afraid anymore as she knew the person with her would not let any danger befall her. She wanted to look back but she was unable to and he had told her not to so she pressed foward. The life of the forest was becoming less and less as they walked and now they walked through what seemed like a burned forest toward a dark cave. She wondered where he was leading her but she trusted him._

_"You have faced your past," the voice said as they stepped into the cave, "now it's time to leave it where it belongs. You were never the person they made you to be so everything they ever told you about yourself was nothing more than a lie." That was when his hands left her and he walked in front of her. It was as she had though, Uzumi Zala stood before her now, though he was glowing like an angelic being, no longer mortal, no longer the fragile boy who faced darkness alone. She had so much she wished to speak but no words would come out and in a blinding flash they were no longer in a dark cave but a cold field of flowers that seemed made out of paper and clouds that were whispy and beautiful._

_"Where am I?" she was finally able to speak and he put a finger to his lips as a rain began to fall and a wind blew around them. She lifted her face up toward the rain letting the drops fall onto her and not hiding from the cold wind that blew, the rain washed over her, washing away the past and renewing her soul, her spirit and her mind. She felt in that moment as if a weight was lifting off of her, as if her heart was finally bring freed from it's prison._

_"You will awaken, Meiko Virea," he said taking her hands and looking into her eyes, "you will awaken as I did not. In death I have seen many things Meiko and I have seen you as so much more than anything this world has ever seen, you were born for so much more." She didn't understand what he was saying. Didn't she die as well? Couldn't she stay here safe forever?_

_"But I died, I chose to leave that path when I destructed the Pain ending my own life," she said looking at him confused._

_"No," Uzumi responded, "you are sleeping, your body is healing itself now for you have been drawn from the door of death and pulled back into life by the power that rests inside of you. You can see me now because your mind has expanded though it's only for a brief time longer, as your strength returns the power inside you will return to it's rest awaiting another time. Meiko you need to understand now that there is no turning back, no looking behind at the past. You are a changed person, one who will has the will and strength to endure and you are redeemed." The word sounded around her again filling her soul, it was what she had desired her entire life, a redemption._

_"I'll have my redemption in life," Meiko said looking down as tears filled in her eyes, "but you won't be there. Uzumi, it's my fault." He put a finger to her lips this time stopping her from saying it._

_"The past is gone," he said, "you did nothing, you are made new. Accept it Meiko and let yourself be filled with light, for you are so much more than they told you, you were."_

_"But I don't want to go back to life," she said crying more, "I don't want to be alone anymore."_

_"No matter what they told you, you were never alone," he replied, his voice filling her ears, "and you never will be again. Things will be clear soon that the reason you never fell to the darkness of the life you were forced to live will be hard for you to bear but it will be revealed to you in time. I wish I could tell you everything but it's forbidden." He suddenly embraced her as if he needed comfort so she held him._

_"It's hard being torn away from everyone," he said as tears flowed from his eyes as well, "it's hard not being able to tell them it's going to be okay when I can see their sufferings. Being unable to do anything." She held onto him and he held onto her both knowing they didn't have much time, the two good friends who had a strange connection. Something he knew now and something she didn't understand. Here in the field of paper flowers standing in the healing rain and waiting for the time when they must say goodbye._

_"It's hard not having you there, it was hard deciding what to do," Meiko said as they let go of each other, "I was so unsure for so long that when It came down to life or death I had to make a choice and I know I made the right choice."_

_"You did," he said, "and now you will continue to make the right choices. Just trust yourself Meiko, for there is so much more out there that you will face."_

_"Why can't you just tell me," she whined at him now and he smiled at her._

_"I'm just happy I can tell you anything at all," he said with a small laugh, "for the time will come again where we will be unable to speak but I won't leave you, I promise. For you have no idea how connected we really are." She rolled her eyes at him again, he was jumping around a large piece of information she desperately wanted to know but he was unable to tell her. He looked into her eyes as he thought of all he knew now, and everything that he wanted to say and every warning he had to give. She saw something change within him and a desperation filled his eyes, his time was running out.  
_

_"The past is in the past," she spoke knowing that was the reason he had come to speak to her now, "the future is all that matters. I am free of it all now."_

_"Then go," Uzumi said nodding his head in assurance, "for you are free to live anew. Remember I will always be here as long as you keep me in your memory, and tell my story for I fought for you till the end. And if you are ever afraid I am by your side, just remember. Wake up now, wake up."_

Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself in a dark room illuminated by very small lights coming from the machines around her. She was unable to move for even breathing caused her pain. She felt that something was different, her right hand was very cold. There was someone in the distance yet she could barely see with the lighting. Where was she? What had happened? How did she get here? Who was taking care of her? Was she really safe or was this the beginning of another desperate atempt to escape? All the questions raced through her mind as she lay there quietly. A rythmic beating sounded in her ears as her breath grew shallow once again and her body retreated back into unconsciousness.

"The future, Uzumi," she whispered as she faded away again. Milady was awakened by this and stood up quickly to find that Meiko was once again unconcious.

* * *

**So you see what I mean about the ending scene.**

**Again sorry about the longer waits, schools been beating me back along with my new job and I was attempting to take on a second job but I don't know how I can handle everything.**

**But there is so much more ahead and I know you have a lot of different questions about the character and I promise that I will tie up some of the loose ends soon, there is a lot more story left to look forward to so enjoy the ride. Thanks for being good readers.**

**And I appologize for this in advance:  
**

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**I picked up one new reviewer last chapter, which is great. Those who review keep doing it because I know who you all are, and those of you who don't I'd love you to join the reviewing club, it would give me more inspiration to continue this story because right now I think only nine people really care enough to tell me what they think.**

**Thanks for reading**

**Peace**

**WinterChill  
**


	29. Author's Note: SPOILERS!

**I know most people hate it when I do this, Authors notes when they really want Chapters. I just wanted to say that I may not be able to update for a month or so, writing has been very very slow and the next chapter is going to be insane I promise but I have been swamped with school. I seems all my professors expect me to work like crazy. I've also been discouraged since I seem to have lost some readers or something, I don't know I just feel like right now the story is at a slow point but things will heat up soon enough I promise.  
**

**Because of this I have decided to give you all a little taste of what is to come. I will give you a couple of Spoilers to chew on, though they won't be really detailed:**

**-Meiko Virea will be returning to the battlefield soon enough as many of you have predicted but when she does her personality will be much more different. She will be more ruthless, cold and almost merciless. Kinda anti Kira in this way because he returned to the battlefield in GS and fought to protect, she is returning to destroy. Her hatred for Liene and ROW will lead her to fight for peace in a more brutal way. She's not taking nonsense anymore, she knows who she is an she knows what she wants out of life. There is going to be a point when she falters though, her past will be revealed and she will see her ultimate destiny and become something so much more.  
**

**-Yaro Yamato is about to change drastically yes, he has always been described as full of light but that is going to change. In about ten phases or maybe a little more his past will be revealed as well as his origins and this information will spark something in him that will begin the downward slide into his destiny and he will be much darker than any of the other characters because of it. **

**-Kiran Yamato has played a larger role at this time and he will fade to the background in a little while but rest assured he will have an ultimate role in the ending of the war with ROW.**

**-Kayla Yamato does not fully step into her destiny till the end of Immortal.**

**-Leyas Yamato's role has been confusing up to this point because it will become more clear and large as Immortal begins but at this point her and Trey's friendship will be more developed with time and it may become something deeper.**

**-Redemption will enter the battlefield very soon and Yzak will be an emissary between Milady and our heros. **

**-In the ending main characters will be killed off, I know who they are just letting you know not to be shocked when some people are axed because there is an ultimate purpose for it all. I use character deaths to further explore the characters who survive.**

**That's all for now. One last note, next Chapter I will explore Meyrin and Ceveris as you have all been wanting me to.**

**Now let me know what you think about all that. I think I've given enough for you to chew on without giving away too many details. Thanks for being such great readers and Reviewing. I want to know your opinion on the spoilers. I want to see what you think so that I can gain inspiration from that to find time to write more! Thanks**

**-WinterChill  
**


	30. Treading Water

**So this chapter is even heavier than the last one, I thought about splitting it but I decided that after the wait you deserved more because of the long wait which I am sorry for. It's just I had so many projects and tests and then midterms! No time to write! But finally I finished it! Here it is:  
**

**Phase 28: Treading Water**

* * *

_"My name is Ceveris," he said and she smiled, it wasn't a conventional name but then again he didn't seem like the conventional sort of person. She looked around the prison cell it was cold and dark, she wondered if Cagalli had gotten her last message or if any of them even knew she was missing now. She had never expected this on the mission, she had thought that the terrorists were mostly gone but no it seemed they were still active._

_"So how did someone as pretty as you end up in this situation," she looked at him with a smile, he hadn't initially seemed like the kind of person who was talkative but she was intrigued by him because he was in the same boat as her, they had both been captured by these strange people. She didn't know why he had been captured but she did know that together they might be able to figure some way out. Plus he seemed to be a kind person and she knew that any allies at this point were valuable especially since he might know the area better than she did. Befriending him seemed to be the logical thing to do._

_"I'm an operative from ORB," Meyrin responded trying to remember what exactly her mission was, "we're still trying to trace the group behind the invasion at Gibraltar and all our leads pointed here. Representative Attha sent me to investigate but it seems I've landed myself here without very much information." Me laughed a little, "What's so funny she asked."  
_

_"Well why did ORB choose to send you?" he asked laughing a little more, "sending a girl to do a mans job?" He laughed more at this and it irritated her._

_"I am not just a girl!" she declared angrily, "my name is Meyrin Hawke, I am part of ORB's special forces, I am a coordinator! I fought in the second bloody valentine war aboard the Minerva and the Archangel! I helped liberate Gibraltar! I've been in training for missions like this for years! I know what I am doing, I just didn't expect this group to still be as operational as it was! And if you haven't noticed you didn't exactly avoid capture either!" She crossed her arms angrily making him laugh harder at her. He had heard of her, Meyrin Hawke was indeed a legend in her own right for her pat in ending the second war with the Clyne faction and he would have never expected to run into someone so important here. It was funny to him to see how she defended herself against him but she was right he was in the same situation. He stopped laughing and thought back to the experience that landed him here. He had pissed off the wrong people and he would pay for it soon enough with something more than just his freedom, maybe this girl could be of some assistance to him. They could escape together._

_"I am sorry," he said calming down and looking at her, she really was beautiful even with her hair a mess from being treated like a prisoner, "I meant no offense it's just I let myself run away with my mouth a lot, it's kinda a bad habit. The truth is I'm here because these guys don't exactly take to the mercenary type. Me and my men have controlled this territory for a long time but ever since these terrorists moved in we've been loosing that control and we tried to fight back but they took me prisoner. So I'm every bit as incapable as you are and the worst part is I can't figure out any way to get out of this place. I've been here for three weeks." The anger faded from her eyes as she realized he probably hadn't talked to very many people in those weeks. These terrorists didn't seem like the kind to explain themselves or to question prisoners._

_"I'm just so frustrated," Meyrin said putting her head in her hands as tears came to her eyes, "I'm better than this and I don't know what to do either." He didn't like seeing her cry, she was too pretty to be in here, whoever was in charge of her mission should have taken better care of her. He stood up and walked over to where she was sitting and sat down next to her putting an arm around her. She was a bit surprised but she needed some comfort now, she had no way of knowing if help was coming and she didn't know what to do about it all._

_"We'll figure this out," he said looking her in the eye and trying to calm her down, "we're both in this situation and between the two of us we can figure this out. You're a seasoned veteran and I'm a mercenary."_

_"I'm not acting like a veteran now,"she said wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to pull herself together._

Meyrin stood before the glass of a mirror picturing the past, remembering that moment. The moment that he held her in her sorrow and that moment that they had chosen to join together. They had escaped together against the odds, beaten their way out of there. Ceveris had taken her in as she tried to contact ORB but was unable to. She was safe with him and with his unit and her strategies they had successfully destroyed the terrorists factories_. _She remembered everything, his insane teasing and his way of speaking to her, it was all way to good to be true for her to find someone like him. He always seemed wild and dangerous but at the same time safe and beautiful in every way and he adored her and he teased her to her annoyance but she learned to love it. They shared their first kiss after the success of their mission.

She had made contact with ORB after the destruction but she had chosen to stay with him for months embracing his pirate life because she was happy to be with him. Lunamaria thought she was crazy but Meyrin never paid attention to her because she seemed to have only problems with her love life. She was blinded by her infatuation with how perfect he seemed and she hadn't seen who he really was. He wasn't like the people whom she was a part of in ORB and the Clyne faction and he did not posses the same noble honor of them, instead he cared for himself more and the money that he made in his business. Everything had been planned by someone else it seemed, he knew that Meyrin was on her way and he knew she would be captured in fact he had instigated it and he had set up that they would be rescued. Nothing was what she thought it was, he had been working with someone else all along and it was all for the information the terrorists had been researching. He sold the information of everything those terrorists had done to some organization. The harm that he had probably done to them all in this, she had no idea of knowing whether or not ROW got the information from his reckless acts.

She felt betrayed that she had been tricked by him to everything and the worst part was that she had really fallen in love with him.

_"Mey It's true!" he declared looking away in frustration, she didn't understand, "it's true it all started out as a ploy, I knew that we needed your help, your strategies to accomplish all this and my information came from someone else. The whole thing was to get these terrorists weapons and I got paid a lot of money to do it but don't you see everything? I failed my mission because I fell in love with you just like I know that you fell in love with me. That makes all the difference Mey, it started out wrong but everything is happening around us now. Don't you see that we're perfect for each other." He tried to take hold of her again and she pushed him away as the tears poured down her face, he had betrayed her._

_"Don't touch me," she declared taking a step back, "don't ever touch me again! You lied to me, you deceived me and you expect me to trust you just because you say you love me? You never proved it, why couldn't you just tell me the truth?" Her anger, her sorrow and her hatred were all evident to him._

_"Because I knew who you were Mey," he responded looking down, "I knew that you were better than me, so much better than me. I am a pirate, a mercenary and so much more, I am not noble and true like everything that you are. I have more care for the things that I do for myself and I never think about the consequences and I'm fine with the way I live. The moment I met you I knew that we were so different yet I wanted to believe that someone like you could possibly love someone like me and I knew I would never know if that was true if I told you everything. I knew too well." She hated it, she hated hearing his words now. She never wanted to feel this pain yet it was such a part of her, it took over her soul and caused her to cry more than she ever had before in her life; her heart had been broken because she had fallen in love with the wrong man._

_"I can't forgive you," she turned away, "I can't trust you after all that you did. You used me and you have proven yourself to be everything you say, a scoundrel and a selfish cruel man. I never want to see you again." He was frustrated now, he wanted to make her see how she had changed him and he wanted her to know how much he cared but he knew that he had done wrong. He looked down with a heavy heart of sorrow then back to her. She refused to look at him._

_"I'll see to it that you safely reach ORB if that is what you wish," he said heavily, she was the first person he had ever loved and he knew she would be the last, "Mey, I want so much to show you that I love you but I understand why your angry. Just know this that I will always be there if you need me, if you are ever in danger call upon me, you will always know how. If you are ever in trouble and you ever need help I promise you that I will be there, I promise you Mey. For I know someday you will need me, and I will be there." She listened to his words with anger as if she wanted his help after this._

_"I will never ever call upon you," she responded in anger, "I will be stronger than ever before and I will never need you again!" _

She walked down the halls of the Minerva now as she pictured that moment in her mind, the moment she had realized that everything was a lie. She had worked to be stronger because she never wanted to need his help again but she had failed herself and at a crucial moment she realized that her pride was not worth loosing everything and she called him. Having him here was hard for her as she knew she could never fully trust him again but there was no other way for them to be saved. Him and his remaining warriors were all that she depended on to protect the ship since Shinn and Luna were gone.

"Mey," she turned around to see him standing behind her, "you're crying?" She lifted her hands to her eyes and felt the mist in them, she hadn't even realized that there were tears there. She turned away from him again and he stepped forward but he didn't wrap his arms around her for he had just been remembering the same thing, she had asked him never to touch her again and he loved her enough to respect her wishes.

"I'm fine," she said wiping the tears from her eyes and turning back to him with her hardened expression but she knew him well enough to know that he saw right through her.

"You can't lie to me," he sighed looking into her eyes with sadness in his own, "I know you know that. I understand the pressure you are under to bring this ship into ORB territory but I also know that I am here beside you every step of the way. I won't let this ship fall. It's going to be alright." She strengthened up.

"I am not worried about this ship at all," she said saucily trying to regain ground, she didn't want him to see her weaknesses for she had worked to get rid of them, "i was just thinking about space, the STING and the battles that we went through. You know that the weapons ROW had were very advanced, probably thanks to the information leak you started when you sold that information to some backhanded group." He sighed at this once again.

"You can't lie to me," he repeated looking into her eyes, "you can't lie to me because I know you Mey and I've been in love with you every moment of the past 13 years even though you said some pretty awful things about me when you left." He saw the anger in her eyes falter for a second but she seemed to be trying to hold it up. She had fallen to him before and she knew she was in danger of falling again, all the troubles were 13 years past it was hard to hold onto them for so long, she wasn't like Luna. She just knew she had to stay strong for if she faltered for a moment she would end up falling back into the same pattern as before and he was not trustworthy; he would break her heart despite himself. Even if it was true that he loved her there was no way that he would ever be able to break his old habits and turn away from everything. She knew him too well. All he saw in this moment was the war in Meyrin's eyes, the war she was fighting within herself to hold onto the past as a defense for now, her foundation of anger toward him had been shaken because despite everything 13 years later he had kept his promise to be there for her. He was there to protect here again when she needed him most even though she assumed the worst about him.

"Stop it," she declared trying to fight it off, the feeling that her heart had when he looked at her in that way, she slamed her hands against his chest and he smiled his crooked smile causing her to falter again. He took one her hands that still rested on him. He knew she still had feelings for him, no matter how much she tried to deny it, no matter how much he had broken her heart there was still a part of her that loved and missed him. That was all he needed to throw his inhibitions off, he loved her so much and time had made her even more enchanting to him with her beautiful red hair and stubborn resistance to him. He leaned down quickly in this moment catching her perfect lips in a kiss and pouring out his feelings. He hadn't expected her to kiss him back but she did, her arms wrapping around him and his around her, their mouths moving quickly conveying everything all the anger, the pain and the love that they felt.

Once again she was weak in his arms, unable to think only able to show how she felt about him, no matter how wrong it was to her mind her heart was winning. His hands roved over her as she tried to regain her strength but was completely defenseless against his touch. It was then that the alarm rang about the ship and their moment was broken, she broke from him stumbling backwards at what had just taken place and he stared at her with admiration and love. Her ship was in danger she tried to bring her mind back from it all but found it very difficult, she had let herself become weak to him once again, she had failed. She wiped away tears from her eyes and ran down the halls toward the bridge, they would need her there to be strong now for she was the captain of this vessel. He stood there stunned for a moment about everything before turning and running toward the hangar; the girl he loved was aboard this vessel and he would do everything in his power to protect it.

* * *

"What's the situation?" Meyrin asked as she burst onto the bridge. Arthur Trine looked at her for a moment, it wasn't like her to be this late after the alarm and she seemed a little distressed but he knew now was not the time to address that.

"We have a ship port side, they've launched three mobile suits," Alicesia declared with confidence, this should be enough for their protection to handle. After all they had four mobile suits now. She thought about Kiran and knew he was safer now that Ceveris and the others were there, she was happy about that. This battle was sure to be easier than the last one for them all to bear. With that in mind she tried to keep her thoughts focused on the here and now, this was not the time to be smiling all joyously, there was still some risk despite the odds she saw it was just a little too distracting to think about.

"What faction are we up against? What mobile suits? Thermal patters?" Meyrin asked these questions quickly taking her position as a captain seriously, "we need more information people. Order all our mobile suits to launch of course but make sure you inform them what we are gathering. Keep your heads up people back up could appear at any moment. Load the missile tubes, aim the main guns!" She spoke so quickly analyzing the situation with perfection. Alicesia admired her strength.

* * *

"We're so close to the ORB outpost," Kiran complained to Ceveris as their mobile suits were loaded onto the launcher catapult, they would be out fighting soon enough, "who would dare attack us this close to our own territory?"

"ROW," Ceveris declared it was then that Alicesia's face appeared on their monitors.

"The ship as been identified as a mock t7 ROW vessel," she explained, "there are three standard mobile suits out there now but we have no way of knowing if there are more on the way. She smiled as she saw Kiran's cocky expression, "keep your heads on out there and protect the ship! We've got this one!" Kiran's grin was ear to ear now at her confidence, he loved it when she was happy. Ceveris noticed Kiran's expression changing and he started wondering about the two but the catapult launched then and he turned hims mind back to the battlefield now.

* * *

Kiran launched forward engaging the first enemy he could and fighting as best he could, Ceveris's training helped a little but he still wasn't prepared for this. His mobile suit flew backward as the mobile suit kicked him away. He grabbed for the largest cannon on his mobile suit and fired it at full power severing off the arm of the unit in front of him. His attack was picked up by the Iron Fist flying in and slicing through the rest of the unit as it exploded Kiran shook his head and few quickly toward the next unit when he heard an alert sounding and saw Alicesia's face on his screen.

"Kiran, Kiran help!" she declared, "they have backup! There are underwater mobile suits!"

"TAKE US UP!" he heard Meyrin's yell in the background and he looked up at the rest of the mobile suits. Ceveris and his team could handle this for sure he glanced about his mobile suits, with a few minor adjustments he could be ready for this.

"Got it Alicesia, I'll take care of them," he said quickly turning off his radio before she could protest and diving his mobile suit straight into the sea below. Bubble surrounded his camera leaving him temporarily blind but when they cleared he saw two units following the Minerva which had just lifted itself out of the water. Even further in the distance he saw their vessel, a submarine. He gritted his teeth in anger, they would not take down his ship so easily. He fired his cannon at one but the water pressure was such that his shot just glazed by it barely leaving a mark. The two mobile suits turned to him and he braced himself for what was coming.

* * *

"Ceveris!" he looked up hearing Meyrin's frantic voice, he had just taken out the third mobile suit and it seemed three more had launched, ROW was sure persistent this time around. "You have to get underwater! They have mobile suits, Kiran's down there!"

"What?" he declared in shock, "the kids down there?" Kiran was improving but he had never faced units underwater before, it was much different than in the air, what could posses him to try and handle those units on his own when he had backup. Recklessness was fine when you were a veteran but with Kiran's inexperience reckless antics could lead him to death. Ceveris shook his head and messaged his units telling them to handle the situation in the air.

"Don't worry Mey," he said with confidence, "I'll take care of it." He then dived into the water at top speed, pulling out the knifes on the side of his mobile suit, beams worked underwater but not without adjustments and time. If Kiran was in danger time was something he didn't have.

* * *

Kiran was knocked back again by a torpedo that he caught with his shield he cried out as he tried to keep his mobile suit's balance. He pulled out his beam saber and slashed blindly for the mobile suit but the water kept bubbling up around him making it harder and harder to see. He couldn't let this battle go wrong, people up there were depending on him and these units were trying to destroy the Minerva and his friends. Alicesia was depending on him, he couldn't let anything bad happen to her the way it had to so many others in the past weeks. He couldn't let this battle end in death. The seed exploded in the back of his mind as he charged forward lifting his cannons with speed and typing commands into the system.

He fired both arm cannons at once hitting one mobile suit with one shot and weakening its armor but the other one came around knocking Kiran forward. That was when he saw another mobile suit in front of him, the Iron Fist. He smiled as he took queues from Ceveris now reaching out with his mind to try and fight stronger. He followed his instincts as he had been taught and as Ceveris signaled strategies to him he fought on.

"You're doing great kid now stay with me," he heard Ceveris say as he followed the seed in his mind to try and fight off one of the enemies.

"Stop calling me kid!" Kiran declared as he continued to fight on. Ceveris smiled to himself as he pulled out weapons firing into one of the mobile suits and watching it explode. He turned to see Kiran disable an enemy and rush back toward the final mobile suits. Before they could make any moves now the remaining forces retreated, on instinct Kiran began to follow them but the Iron Fist blocked his path before he could. In that moment his seed reformed bringing him out of battle mode and back to reality.

"No need to follow them, ROW they won't be back to bother us," Ceveris said as he watched Kiran's eyes change back to normal, something was really wacky about this kid's abilities and Ceveris wondered if he had just witnessed the seed, something he had always heard about but never truly believed in.

"Kiran, Ceveris," they both heard Alicesia's voice, "the forced have retreated, please return to the ship, we are almost to the outpost!"

"Roger," Kiran said blasting out of the water, Ceveris followed the overeager kid still thinking on what he had witnessed. The boy was picking up things faster than anyone he had ever taught, was this the force that made his father something to be reckoned with? If this seed was real Ceveris knew that a whole lot of things could change and now he wondered how many more people possessed these abilities? How many more could fight that instinctively and win?

* * *

Jayley Lired had been planning this for a very long time. She stood in front of the PLANT council now with her ultimatum before her; a war was about to begin and this time things would shift in a way no one could predict. The turmoil around the world was escalating as ROW doubled efforts and she knew these actions would throw everything off balance and that they could be very dangerous but she also knew the path they had to take to the future. She looked at the ring on her right hand remembering the oath she took three years before, a oath to a greater power and a path to a future that would be free of ROW, Redemption and the Clyne faction. The world would be cleansed and she would be the one to start it all. Everything now depended on her. She smiled sinisterly with a twisted look in her eyes. She saw Mike Shustre standing off to the side in the room along with other officials she had invited to be there; he was an important part of her plan. She knew everything that he had been through and she knew that the only way to take down Rayla was through him. Things were looking up. Now ORB would burn as she launched her ultimatum and her father would be pleased with her fro starting the landslide that would end this chapter of humanity.

"Are you certain of these actions?" A council member said. Jayley stood before them, it had been a long hard week but she was now sure of everything that she wanted to accomplish. The council was under her control completely, their thoughts were her own. These actions would not be seen well by anyone but her goals were before her, ROW had to end and today was the beginning. Once Liene saw he no longer had control in the PLANTs he would immediately launch his next stage and Jayley was a step ahead of him.

"They have sheltered our fugitive and they have shown that they clearly have no care for our interests," Jayley spoke with confidence now, they hung onto her every word, "Cagalli Attha is the sister of Kira Yamato and as such she must feel more than just pressure from us. We will not back down until our demands our met! They are to turn in the Clyne faction to us and to cease all military activity in the world. ORB must be eliminated if we are to get what we want and that is real peace." The council clapped at her words and some rose up to cheer her on. This was all too easy, she had prepared for a little more opposition but today everything changed. Mike looked at her with disbelief in his eyes, she had done it and now there would be war different than that of ever before.

The PLANTs were about to mobilize. This would change everything, he looked out the window of the council room toward space knowing now the path he would take. ROW had to be destroyed and now that Meiko was gone he would have to make sure that everything fell. He understood Jayley's plan now. All enemies of peace would fall by the hands of each other they would be destroyed.

* * *

"How do we respond to these demands! They are going to attack us if we don't give them what they want!" Grastler declared. Athrun and Cagalli stood together before the council after the reading of the PLANT's ultimatum. It seemed it was all over the news as well, Jayley had spoken before the people already declaring her demands and telling them what she planned to do if ORB didn't respond. The Clyne faction had left a week before and there had been no word from Lacus or Kira but Cagalli was sure that they knew what was going on now. She knew it was coming but she hadn't expected it so soon, the PLANT council in the past would have chosen the most peaceful path but it seemed Jayley was pushing them with everything she had. Her technicians were summoning the NEA now and she was wondering how best to respond. Everything was happening so suddenly, her country was going to burn again. Her breathing increased as she dropped her head and shoulders in defeat trying to see a way out. She felt Athrun's hand on her shoulder and he stepped forward delivering what answer he could.

"It seems the PLANT council has not taken into account the threat that ROW laid against us only weeks ago," Athrun sighed thinking of all that had taken place, "the world saw us fight heroically against the odds and they saw the Clyne faction help us in the name of peace. The PLANT's actions now will not be looked upon favorably by the free nations left in the world, and I fear that war will come to their front in ways they don't even expect." He paused looking at the faces of the council members, they were distraught by this news. They had been preparing the military for something like this but with only a couple weeks between the STING battle and now it was doubtful they would have the strength to stand against all the forces of the PLANTs. Athrun was about to continue when Cagalli grabbed his arm and with a determined look on her face she stepped foward.

"We have done nothing wrong," Cagalli declared with anger, "nothing to deserve this. The PLANT's show no regard for our nation with these demands, we had no choice but to ally with Lacus because of the threat at our borders and now she is no longer here to fight alongside us. I call upon all of you to stay strong, it seems our darkest hour is yet still upon us and I believe that if we are vigilant the truth with bring us to the light."

* * *

The skies around them were darkened as the first attack came without warning to a small ORB outpost in the pacific ocean. The bombs fell quickly and response was futile. Many tried to run and many didn't escape the ruins of darkness that came as the PLANT forces ascended upon the sea firing all manner of weapons into the base. Many cursed the homeland that was supposed to protect them, but the strongest were vigilant dying with their beliefs still in hand; understanding that the darkness fell now but one day light would shine upon the people of the world again.

When word reached ORB of the attack the nation was taken aback. It was all so sudden and unexpected; the PLANTs barely gave the nation time to respond before laying out this ultimatum. There would be war for sure, and no one could stop it now.

* * *

The sweet sight of safety was before them as the Minerva docked at the ORB outpost near Africa; it had been a scary journey for a bit there but they knew for now they were out of danger. Meyrin had received orders allowing most of her crew to disembark from the ship as it was to receive it's necessary repairs. It all reminded her of her first voyage aboard the great ship, she had been a lowly member of the bridge on a rough ride which had led them straight into ORB. She had not known then what good friend she would make with those that ran the country and she never expected to be named captain of the Minerva then. Life had taken her far from that time. She stepped off the ship to be greeted by the officers of the outpost and she motioned for Kiran to follow her. The boy was a little bit out of place in the outpost, but one of the officers Meyrin recognized. The man was a personal friend of Athrun's and knew who Kiran was in relation to the Lady Cagalli and he treated the boy with respect.

She was briefed with the situation of the nation since her disappearance and she was socked to learn that the PLANTs had declared war on ORB in such a rash manner. It seemed an outpost in the Pacific ocean had been completely wiped out and many in the base feared now that this outpost was next. She had missed too much in her time away and she knew that there was no time to loose getting the Minerva back into the action. She was also shocked to learn that a majority of the Clyne faction had departed from ORB and headed into space leaving Yaro behind and Kiran as well. This was uncharacteristic of Kira in her mind because he was never the type of person to abandon a fight. She was also informed that this all took place before the PLANTs declaration of war.

All had been silent in relation to the war of ORB and ROW, it seemed the power had decided to leave them alone but it wasn't backing down. There were reports of turmoil in the world increasing all around them and it seemed that Meiko's sacrifice had all been in vain. The power was still a threat. It all saddened Meyrin now as she thought about everything that had taken place thus so far. Too much death and not enough hope in the world she lived in. Children once again were made to bear the burdens of adults as she had seen too many young soldiers on the battlefield and it seemed more were around her in this base. Surely this was not the life man was made to endure. Suffering and pain were endless. She thought on the events of space; she and so many others had watched a girl sacrifice everything she had for them and she heard not one mention of it in the discourse of the officers. It seemed no one had honored her and everyone had moved on from it. She felt guilty for some reason that she also had not thought on these matters very much at all but there was no time for guilt in war.

After hearing everything Meyrin and Kiran were taken into a room to make immediate contact with Lady Cagalli and ORB, for they would need to ensure that the motherland knew that they were safe and they would await whatever orders their superiors had. When Cagalli came on she seemed very relieved to see them, and Athrun was on the transmission as well bearing the same expression. The two must have been worried sick about what might happen. After exchanging stories of things that took place Meyrin was satisfied to learn that everyone seemed to have made it down to earth just fine, except for a few ships that were still MIA and some that had been found wrecked. Shinn and Luna were okay along with many others. Kiran was excited to hear his family had made it down and a little distressed to hear that they had left. The conversation between the four continued on then turning to more important matters.

"Do you think this outpost will be the place the PLANTs attack next?" Meyrin asked thinking about the rumors that many of the officers seemed to believe.

"It's highly possible considering the PLANT forces trajectory from Gibraltar," Athrun affirmed, "and from what information we have about their strategies thus so far. It seems that they are not quite brave enough to attack the homeland yet which is good for us because it gives us time to build up our defenses and plan for an evacuation should one be needed. We do not know how things will play out but we are preparing everyone for any situation we can think of."

"I've also spoken to Lacus," Cagalli said looking a bit saddened, "and though it was brief what I got from her is that their forces in space are not quite ready yet, they took a heavy beating from that last battle and still need time to regroup, plus they seem to be working very hard on Kira's new machine to at least send that down to us. If we have Kira and Athrun fighting together we might be able to keep the PLANTs away until we can figure out how to settle this all diplomatically. We don't want this to cause enmity from the earth toward the PLANTs, the last thing we want is another valentine war."

"But at this point I think the earth is probably already fed up with Jayley," Meyrin responded, "she promised the PLANTs would aid troubled nations and they never did, she promised to fight against ROW and she never did; for when ROW gathered an army in the open she ignored it. I really hope war can be prevented, have you talked to the NEA?"

"They seem to be wavering between decisions now," Athrun responded, "we can't rely on them as they have their own borders to protect, but we do know the situation does not sit well with them."

"We must remain strong," Kiran said with a smile, "we've won in the past, I'm sure we'll make it through again plus we have the three best mobile suit pilots in the world on our side, my dad, you uncle Athrun and Shinn! We can take them!" Athrun laughed at Kiran's light mood, it was good to see the child was still hopeful.

"In the situation we are now in that may be what we are really relying on, brute strength," Cagalli responded breathing out a sigh, "but with ROW still out there, I wonder how much longer we can hold." The conversation continued on with battle plans and ideas for how defenses could be better. In the end Kiran was happy to hear that he may be seeing his brother Yaro sooner than he had expected, for it seemed the possibilities of the tranquility being sent to the ORB outpost he was no in were very high, in that case Kiran would surprise his older brother with his new found mobile suit skills. He looked forward to the battles ahead with hope that they would make it through this nightmare and hope that everything would turn out alright in the end.

* * *

"The attack was quick," Athrun stated as he and Cagalli sat alone in the council room discussing what to do now. She was resolved as she had not been in a long time. These people had mocked her pain in saying that she had no right to guard Lacus; the Clyne faction had stood by ORBs side when ROW had attacked, and they had been there to comfort her when she had lost one of the people she loved most. She would rather avoid war but if it was what the PLANTs wanted, the only way to respond was to defend. She would never attack another nation but she would not allow another to attack her.

"The council will take action," Cagalli stated and Athrun understood everything she felt now, for he felt the same way. This was an attack on them personally, for some reason Jayley sought to destroy the nation, she did not care for the information they held. "They will send the Tranquility, for a new unit has been formed around Yaro and the Dreamer. Though I would much rather not put Kira and Lacus's son in danger he is an ORB solider now and he will fight for us better than anyone else we have. The PLANT forces won't know what hit them when they move next." Athrun looked at her clenched fists and put his hands over them, she was worked up over all this and she had need to be, it was outrageous, but he knew that if she did not remain calm she would run herself ragged and into ruin.

"You should rest," Athrun said looking deep into her eyes and seeing her weariness with all the things that were happening around her.

"There is no time for rest now," Cagalli responded, "our nation, our home is being threatened. Athrun why is this happening? Why do we once again have to face off against them?"

"Because as long as there is evil in this world there will be a threat against every life," Athrun replied, "And as long as we have weapons and war there will never be an incentive to discuss peaceful solutions. These are dark times we live in, darker than before and I know we have every reason to be afraid but for some reason I feel as if we have a grace over us. We are not alone in this, something is coming."

"I hope for all our sakes you're right," Cagalli said standing up and walking toward the window of the room, the council would convene again soon and when they did actions of defense would be taken and Yaro would be sent out to fight for the nation Cagalli loved so dearly.

* * *

Yaro stood on the deck of the Tranquility as it moved from the docks and toward the sea; war had come to the nation and now he was given the chance to fight for the things he understood to be true. ORB was a nation that was being unjustly attacked and his loyalty to it was without question. He did not understand the PLANTs motives in this but he knew that whatever they were they went against his. They were finally launching the Tranquility, and soon he would have a chance to fight as he truly was. People had seen him as weaker in the past but now they would lean on his strength for he knew that there was a power that lay within him that he didn't fully understand. He heard the sound of someone taking a deep breath behind him and he turned to see Tripp. His fellow pilot seemed like a good person but Yaro had for the most part avoided to much contact with the members of his crew, the last thing he needed were friends that could be lost in the endeavors to come and most of these people were naturals.

"This is truly one of the most amazing features of this ship," Tripp said, "that we can float along the ocean and sit on this deck and watch it go by." Yaro nodded with a blank expression on his face and the hint of a scowl that he seemed to wear all the time now. Tripp had heard that Yaro Yamato was a different kind of person than he seemed to be now. Now Yaro seemed to bear a solemn countenance and rarely did he speak. Since being transferred to the ship Yaro sat alone in the dining hall, if he ate there at all. At the mission briefing he only spoke to affirm that he understood the plan, now he spoke nothing and only nodded to acknowledge his fellow pilot's presence. "This mission seems crazy, heading to an outpost because we think the next attack will land there... I wonder if it will and if it doesn't then we will have been in the wrong place. Kinda strange how the council seems to be taking it's actions now, I've heard that the Lady Cagalli is letting them make more decisions without her. I also heard that there is a possibility that the outpost we are heading to..." at this point Yaro interrupted him.

"Is there a point to you telling me all this because I do not care what you think about it all," Yaro snapped, he didn't need this right now. He had thought through everything himself and the last thing he wanted to think about is what might happen if they are wrong.

"I just thought you'd want to know that my Father heard the Minerva was docked at the base we are heading to," this caused Yaro to almost jump in surprise. The Minerva had been missing for awhile now and without pilots, to hear it was safe was good news but to hear it was in the path of the next attack was terrible news. His brother Kiran was aboard that ship and how it made it back was a miracle that was beyond him.

"The Minerva?" Yaro repeated in surprise, "what's it doing there?"

"Apparently that was the first place it could make it too," Tripp replied, "I don't know all the details but I have heard that your brother is with them and his mobile suit, the council expects that the ship will be of some help to us in the coming battles." Now Yaro was confused, Kiran in a mobile suit? He had next to nothing experience, putting him in a machine was like condemning him to death. Yaro knew that he would have to change the situation once they reached the outpost, he could not allow Kiran to fight, especially not against the PLANTs for doing so might put Lacus in a more downward situation than she already was.

"Kiran is not a solider of ORB," Yaro responded, "he bears no responsibility to fight for them."

"So you are the only one then," Tripp said looking out toward the sea, "the only one of your family to choose ORB. What made you choose it over them?"

"Because they are not my family," Yaro said darkly staring into the horizon, "and they don't understand anything anymore. Now is the time to stand up and fight the forces in this world that are trying to destroy us, not to run into the shadows. They are not my parents, not my siblings but just the people I care for. I have no family but I will fight to protect those who have been there even if now they hide away from everything they need to face."

* * *

He was angrier than he had been in a long time. Everything he had planned seemed to be crumbling around him and all the officers saw the darkness in his eyes as he entered the meeting that morning. They knew what this meant and they feared it, for Liene's anger and wrath had led him to victory so many times. For in his anger his actions became harsh, and he lost his care for anything else except success, it was this singular focus that had made him an adversary to be reckoned with. Gilligan Manchester dare not speak a word knowing now that Liene had lost Meiko and Jayley, and now he would surely unveil even darker plans.

He stood his ground, not speaking a word as the offices briefed him on the situation. The PLANTs had declared war on ORB, with Jayley leading the effort to begin the war. The first attack had taken place at a ROW outpost as the PLANTs made it very clear that they showed no regard for ORB. The world was stunned now by what had taken place and it seemed that the NEA had stepped forward with statements that the PLANTs were out of line in not even giving the nation much of a chance to respond with their declaration of war. It was everything Liene had hoped to avoid, for now he knew enmity between the earth and PLANTs was sure to rise up again, and now this many years later could the world really afford another valentine? His plans were not yet fully realized; for he needed to unite the world by force under the ROW banner, and now it seemed he would not be able to do this without eliminating the PLANTs from the equation completely. But on the other hand the coordinators were a part of his plan as well, he needed them to be his arm, his hold over the rest of the world. How would he get out of this now.

"Order Jayley to cease her actions," an officer declared to Liene who still stood in his anger not speaking to any of them.

"She won't listen," the transmission of Mike Shustre declared, "she claims that she needs to destroy ORB! Her hatred is strong, it's futile to try and dissuade her from these actions! Liene she is going to destroy everything!" He played his role well now, Mike hated ROW and he knew Liene was close to breaking, he just needed the right persuasion.

"We let her," Liene said gritting his teeth and clenching his fists in anger, "We withdraw from the PLANTS! We leave Jayley Lired to her schemes, I care not for what she does now! Let her know that we are no longer backing her, and that she is in this completely alone. I know what strength lies in ORB, and I know that she will not be able to break them so easily, and perhaps she will learn from her mistakes." His reaction was unexpected by the group by then Mike remembered who he was dealing with. Liene was calculated, he did not take action without a plan and now Mike knew that he would tell the secrets of his plan to no one.

"But sir..." Gilligan tried to protest.

"WE LET HER!" Liene yelled again to get his point across, "and we bide our time, for we have everything on our side now." He turned toward the door and looked back once more, "mobilize our armies and be ready for my command, there are things which I must look into on Mars." With that Liene stormed out leaving the whole group stunned. Something was not right, Mike knew it and he wondered if Liene had discovered the truth of what Redemption had done all those years ago.

Mike felt fear in his heart now, for he knew what might happen if Liene were to get a hold of the A1; he would have a weapon more powerful than anything before. Someone who could break the world in a way Meiko never could have.

* * *

Breath was hard to take in but it was coming as the darkness was finally fading away and the light was coming in. It had been a long time getting here but as she felt strength returning to her she knew that she really was alive and that this time around her life would be different. As she opened her eyes she was hit by the shock of the light and she quickly closed her eyes blinking until her pupils adjusted to it all. She looked around and saw that she was in a room with a large window looking out toward the ocean, the blinds were open and there was a large collection of medical machines all around her. She stretched her arms and she realized her whole body still felt a tinge of weakness but all in all she was sure that everything was so much better than the last time she had woken up. She had no idea how much time had passed since the event in space or where exactly she was but she was glad to finally know that she was safe and not in some prison somewhere.

She thought back to Uzumi, she was alive as he promised. She breathed in the air deeply taking in the feeling of freedom and ignoring everything else but her new found peace.

She sat up slowly taking check of how it felt with her mind and stretching her arms slowly, her dark red hair fell around her as she moved and it was then that she looked down and was shocked. She knew her right hand felt different, it was cold but now she looked down and saw a black glove over it. She brought both her hands in and slowly removed the glove and then she was taken aback to see that her hand was fake. She had heard that research was leading to better and better synthetic body parts and that now they could make a persons nervous system attach to them in such a way that they felt real. This must have been what someone had done to her because the hand she saw was clearly metallic with some sort of skin colored substance over it. She flexed it and bent it amazed that she was able to move it just like her real hand. She quickly slipped the black glove over it not wanting to see it anymore, it was too odd for her. She continued to examine herself wondering if she had lost any other limbs, she felt the bandages around her shoulder that had been shot by Liene. Someone had taken great care in her treatment, and she wondered who it was when a woman walked through the door.

The woman stepped back upon seeing her awake and sitting up and Meiko looked at her confused, something about her. A bright light flashed through Meiko's eyes as she felt a stabbing pain hit her mind and she gripped her head giving a small cry of pain as the face of Yaro flashed through her mind along with the faces of others she knew and she saw a violet glow filling the space in front of her.

* * *

He walked down the halls of the Tranquility when suddenly a stabbing pain shot through his mind and Yaro Yamato's hands rushed to his head as he gripped it and he saw a blurry vision in his head. It was her, Violet eyes glowing with fire and red hair flashing through his mind, Meiko Virea. It faded quickly and something told him to be wary, this was nothing he had ever felt before as he saw a blue glow matching his eyes brighten up the space in front of him, a power filling his being which faded with the same speed that it had overtaken him. Overwhelmed by it all he collapsed.

* * *

"Drink this," the woman said holding a cup out and patting Meiko on the back. She sat there watching the girls movements carefully, she hadn't expected her to react like this when she entered the room. Meiko was coughing violently now and shaking, perhaps she had moved to quickly when she grabbed her head. Meiko's coughing slowed as she drank the sweet liquid and Milady sat there still watching her intently. She had not expected to see her awake yet but she was glad that her recovery was finally speeding.

"There, all better now?" Milady asked her as if she was talking to a child and Meiko looked up trying to see past her mask into her eyes but the white mask covered most of the woman's face. She had short red hair and a kind smile from what Meiko could tell, she wondered who it was that she saw now.

"Who are you?" Meiko asked and the woman sat back.

"I'm a friend," she said speaking with a kind voice, she then stood up and walked toward the wall punching in a code. She turned back to Meiko now taking in a deep breath, Meiko could not tell in which direction she was looking but Milady's eyes were focused on the girl in front of her, the child she had always deemed her hope for the future. She could not believe her eyes now seeing how much the little girl had changed. She saw Meiko's confusion she so spoke on, "my name, well I guess I don't even remember my name but I am called Milady Redemption by those who seek peace. I've been through darkness and shadow, there were many times when my life should have left my being but it did not. Like you I have arisen from the darkness and ashes to fly again, to live again. Seeing you alive, it was a very close brush with death Meiko. Let me assure you that we are all your friends here and we mean you no harm." Meiko seemed to take comfort in her words, true there was something about this woman that made her feel safe, as if she knew her before.

"Where am I?" Meiko asked.

"You are on earth," Milady said with a smile walking to the window, "we're somewhere in southern Atlantic Federation territory, pretty close to ORB actually but neither factions know of this place." Milady then sat down on the bed beside Meiko taking another deep breath, "You are currently on a small island, in a rather large house which is well hidden by the land and underneath this Island is the main base of my organization, Redemption." Meiko seemed taken aback by this as memories of ROW's fear of redemption shot through her head. Her fear faded quickly as she thought about the fact that Redemption worked against ROW, and they had saved her after most likely witnessing what actions she took to stop ROW. So they were on her side in a way, but she still wasn't sure about it. Milady noticed how Meiko was taken aback by her revelation.

"So you're on my side?" Meiko questioned as if trying to work everything out, "what happened after the battle? I only remember..." Her mind drifted as she saw Yaro's face in her mind again, as she heard her own words pour out and as the darkness took her once again. She closed her eyes tight as other memories drifted to her, Uzumi shielding her from the darkness because she had another destiny to fulfill, "I remember darkness. I remember entering the codes, and bracing myself for death. How is it now that I lived?"

"You self destructed your mobile suit but not your protection," Milady began remembering all the details she had worked out years ago. "Inside every mobile suit you've ever had there has been an 'escape' system that was designed to release and lunch your cockpit away from your exploding mobile suit." Milady had made sure when she left that Mike would oversee that this equipment was secretly put into her mobile suits, for it was always imperative that Meiko survive. "Of course in the kind of explosion you caused such a system would be useless, you would be lost in the flames of the STING before getting far enough. That is at least what I feared, but it seems you've counteracted that. When my pilots retrieved your cockpit it was surrounded by an energy, a glow and we believe that this is one of the reasons you survived. Of course you were not without injury; you were tossed around the cockpit quite a bit, you were exposed to high heat and some radioactive energy. All this should have killed you but again an energy that we have classified as the super seed has healed your body, and it seems your soul as well." To Meiko now it seemed as if this woman could see right through her, into her heart and into her mind. Hearing all this overwhelmed her, she should be dead yet she lived because of an energy from within.

"The super seed," she repeated trying to make sense of it all. There was an energy inside of her powerful enough to save her from death, if this was true then what was she really? This seemed to set her apart from other people entirely. If this was true was she really human?

"Don't worry," Milady said seemingly able to read Meiko once again, "this energy does not belong to you only, it's deemed to be the next stage of human development, you're just the first person ever to manifest it. I also should tell you that according to our theory and our measurements you seem to have used it quite a bit recently and it is certain that it will take you many years before you are able to really control it and use it. For now it's just a part of you that is wild and will show up when you least expect it." Meiko thought about this, she was the first to manifest the next stage of human development. Was this why Liene thought she was so important? It made her wonder even more about her past and what it was that caused her to be enslaved to ROW from such a young age.

"Milady Redemption," she said the woman's name, "I thank you for what you've done for me but it is dangerous to shelter me. In this world I know Liene will do everything to kill me, and your organization is already on their target list. There is no need for me to put you in any more danger once I am recovered fully, I wish to seek out my past." Milady expected this from the girl, for all her live Meiko had never been given any answers to her questions, but sadly there was no time for this.

"Liene believes you dead Meiko," Milady responded, "no doubt it is his one comfort, that you are dead and gone. Besides that Liene has no idea where our base is, you are safest here. For he will never be able to reach you in this place. Rest now, you've been through hell all these years. Take comfort for the first time in your life, you are safe Meiko and I promise that no one will let ROW find you again." Meiko laid back as the woman left the room. She stared up at the room unable to think from everything that was happening around her.

Her mind was so very clear, it was as if she could fly at this moment in time but her body was still to weak to really stand. She felt peaceful for the first time in a long time, and safe as Milady said she was. This safety was so freeing that she just wanted to embrace it and hold onto it forever. She felt new as Uzumi had said she would. Now her thoughts turned to ORB, the Clyne faction and to Yaro. She had sided with them in the end as a way to defeat ROW and she wondered now what fate they had met in escaping the STINGs explosion. As she lay there wondering about everything she couldn't help but feel a little lonely. She was at peace but she knew something was not right in the world, and she wondered now about Yaro. Where was he now? How much time had really passed? And more importantly, was he even alive?

* * *

"I can't believe that there is nothing I can do to stop this," Lacus said with a tone in her voice Kira had not heard for a long time, she seemed much more hopeless than she had been for a long time. The long days away from the PLANTs were beginning to break down her strength slowly. She hated being away from everything she used to call home, and she hated being unable to help them, he knew everything she felt now and he knew that he could help her by simply understanding everything it was that she said. She belonged to the PLANTs, her home from the time she was born, he knew this and it had been the reason he had never wanted to come between her and her destiny to preside over them in peace. Now lies had separated her from a part of her identity and in the darkness her two sons were also separated from her. Everything was hard for them all and now she wanted to reach out to her home and try to tell them the truth but they both knew that the PLANTs were too blinded by lies now and that nothing she said would make a difference. She had been painted in the darkest of lights by her enemy, by a liar who sought harm to the world.

He understood how this hurt her; how it hurt her when the people turned against her. He regretted leaving her to face it alone, but he was here now to stand with her as they faced the dark ahead of them.

"They will not listen now," Kira Responded taking her in his arms, "but someday I believe they well. I believe that the truth will come back around, for lies never win in the end and when the truth comes back again you will be able to reclaim your identity in their eyes. For now though Lacus, we know the truth of everything and and we know that we will not back down from returning the light to this world!" She knew his words to be true and she took comfort in them, the darkness had to lift.

"Well we know now that Kiran is safe," she said remembering one thing they had to rejoice over, "that is one thing to remember, that the darkness didn't take him from us. There is hope for the future, if we can all survive through this night." He loved hearing her hopeful words, she had inspired him to light so many times in his life, it was one of the many things he loved about her. She was perfect in his eyes and he would take care of her through everything, his true love, his other half. Kira and Lacus were truely made for each other.

* * *

He stared out the window wondering what it was that had happened. He had seen her inside his mind and suddenly everything felt different, there was no coincidence in what happened. A member of the crew had found him unconscious and had him checked out in the medical center, all they could find was traces of a strong energy and they knew nothing else. Yaro Yamato now remembered every moment of everything that he had seen with her, Meiko Virea was the strongest person he had ever met and somehow she had called out to him.

Life was pressing on him now. War in ORB and war in space; it seemed somehow that he believed everything rested on him yet he didn't know why. Today had been hard to witness so many things in this war but today he had also see the eyes that had once inspired him to light. Somehow his heart felt unburdened by it all and he began to realize the reason that depression and sorrow had not ruled him in the event of her death. It was because his subconscious was connected to hers, somehow their minds were connected now and even though the outside saw darkness he began to feel something in his heart from that moment that the glow had filled space and time around him. Whatever had happened he would kill to save the lives of those around him, he would kill to prove now that he was right and he would kill to find out the truth of everything. Nothing his family had taught him came up now, he felt his true self surfacing, he was in a war and in this situation the only thing that was certain was the strength that one held within their own heart. The peace of Lacus Clyne has been ideal but he saw now that it was a dream world, for man would always hold this hatred in their heart and that good people needed to fight to protect the things they loved. Without the ability to fight and to kill those who wish to destroy they would all be lost. Now he held onto a truth that he would believe, somehow Meiko Virea lived, whether in human flesh or in spirit it did not matter. Her energy was still there and he knew he could not search for the force of it but his heart knew it to be true by their connection. Through the ashes of darkness and shadow Meiko Virea's light would go on forever.

* * *

Jayley wasn't surprised at seeing him there now. Mike Shustre had been left in the PLANTs by ROW and it seemed they still had not moved him, in that time she had worked on him very strongly and she knew a man like him would never be able to resist her offer. She hated ROW, he hated ROW and in many other ways they were the same. She knew that her words had met their purpose, he had once sworn allegiance to Redemption but that was easy to break off, Rayla had left him for another and she knew that with the right persuasion he would question the girl whom he loved, and who never game him love in return.

"What exactly are your plans?" Mike asked her, "I want in." She smiled at this, she had expected as much.

"Well they aren't really my plans, I'm just one stage of them," she responded with a crooked smile, "you see Mike, Liene wasn't the only person to think of an elaborate plan to bring a real peace. I follow one who wishes to wipe the slate clean again, erase all governments and great powers and start anew in a different way than Liene does, we are not idealists and the use of force that he has brought about we have used to our advantage. Letting you know that much is a lot believe me, we are still in the shadows secretly." Mike was surprised at this but then he realized that if organizations like ROW and Redemption existed in the shadows there could be many others that have not yet been discovered. It took quite a few years for the world to pick up on ROW's actions and Redemption was still only known by the few that had her as enemies. If this was another faction who was heading it and what was it's true goal?

"Who would I be working for then," Mike asked now, he didn't want to work for someone who would only lead him down the same path as Liene or into the same doubt as Rayla. He wanted to make a difference for the world now in a way that no one else really could.

"You would be working for me, Mike and indirectly for my superior," Jayley said standing up and walking toward the window, "my father, a man with influence greater than you can imagine at this point. We have let ROW run it's course for a reason, for as soon as we destroy it the nations of this world will want leadership and that is what we will give them. The NEA will want in on it and that is what we will give them and the PLANTs will also be subject to us, a united world." It made a little more sense to Mike, though he had no idea who this girls father might be and she seemed to be jumping around his identity.

"And ORB is the only thing that stands in your way?" Mike said as it made sense now.

"Naturally," Jayley responded, "the nation an it's independent ways is a problem for us; if it continues to go on then you know how they would retreat a global government, they've flaunted it in the past. They are set in their ways, an enemy of the true and lasting peace I desire to bring to the world, you desire this to. Now you have a change to bring it to pass if you join us." He believed her words now.

"I will join you," he said, "I will join you in this cause, I swear it." She smiled as she stared out the window, all that was left was to find the A1, and to twist everything that Liene wanted to restore, and break everything that Rayla had done.

* * *

Her mind and soul were restless, tossing and turning in the night. She wanted to find a way out of this place, the peace was suffocating and she knew something was wrong, something was so very wrong around her. Her body was took weak now for her to do anything, she had just begun to regain strength and she knew she had to be patient but how much longer could she afford to? She had buried the past where it belonged, she had left behind all the things that had haunted her for so long and she had been changed. She had made it through the darkness to get to this point and now she knew that she would come face to face with more and more uncertainty as this all continued. Here she was safe for now but the world around her was spinning fast and that Uzumi had spoken of the future as if it all depended on her, and now she wanted to stop being useless. She wanted to arise now.

In this day she looked back into the darkness of her life and saw the grace of an unseen force always held her. Through it all she had survived, every impossible situation and within her heart there was still light. Uzumi had spoken of her destiny, something that was meant to be that no one could stop, a destiny of light. Now she felt the weight of it all, the responsibility to rise again. She bore the super seed and it marked her as stronger, it marked her with power and she knew that Liene coveted that power more than anything yet there were a few things that never added up in her mind.

She was sure she missed something important. Liene always had a backup plan, he planned everything as if each and every person would betray him. This was how ROW had remained so strong, those who dare betray him were usually caught and made to pay. Meiko believed that she herself was a backup plan, for she always heard whispers of another child Liene depended on, someone whom he deemed irreplaceable and he often ridiculed Meiko for not living up to his expectations. Now that she looked back she had a feeling that there was someone meant to take her place, a darker and stronger force that she would not be prepared for. If this was the case how would she ever step into her destiny?

It was not enough that she was redeemed. There was something else. Something bigger for her. She no longer felt the guilt of the past but now that she felt her peace beginning to fade. She didn't want to go back to the battlefield again. She didn't want to fight anymore yet it seemed that was what everyone would expect from her, for was there anything else she knew how to do? If this was true then everything would happen all over again. It was happening again.

She sat up and grasped her head trying to will these dark thoughts out of her mind but now she was too deep into it. She didn't want to look back but looking forward seemed just and dark as ever. She tried to focus on the present, trying to convince herself there was no reason to be afraid of darkness for she dwelt within light but she felt the darkness anyway. She was utterly alone in this room, she had not seen anyone since that strange woman and she wondered what these people in Redemption expected from her now.

"I need myself," she whispered in the darkness. But in this instant she felt something break inside of her as the violet glow once again electrified the space around her. She began to seem images floating through her mind, images that were not memories but rather visions. The world was burning, she saw the eternal being blasted by a large cannon, she saw Liene laughing among the flames, she saw Trey and Leyas fighting for their lives, she saw Kiran running for his life, Kayla standing in front of the wreckage of a gundam, she saw battles, wars, darkness, she saw everyone she ever knew. She saw Yaro a broken shadow of the boy she knew, rushing into the battle in front of him and fighting with all of his might, a blue glow led him on as he seemed to be willing to sacrifice himself for something. The images of him filled her with fear as she tried to recognize the darkness and fire that burned in his eyes, something had really changed for she knew him to be filled with light but none of that was left in these images. He seemed so angry, so filled with hatred. What was happening to him? Somehow he was there in front of him yet she couldn't reach him, she couldn't stop him! Images continued to flash before her as she saw too much more it was then that she felt an arm around her and the pieces of the shattered seed reformed in her mind leaving her numb and frail.

"What's going on?" she heard the voice of a man asking as she felt someone holding onto her.

"The super seed," Milady's voice said, "it's reacting for some reason." Milady felt Meiko's consciousness fade as the girl fell unconscious from the energy that had suddenly jolted inside of her, "It's still too much, too fast. She should never have been attacked by the S-System Yzak, I am worried about what it really did to her." Yzak stood there in shock, Milady had place constant monitors on the girl. Apparently she had been lying awake when she violently broke her seed somehow causing this wave of energy.

"This is the power we are depending on?" Yzak asked thinking about the prophecy, "she can't control it! It attacked her mind." Milady still held the frail form of the girl on her arms.

"The super seed is strong," Milady said, "I have always feared that it could manifest in darker ways than we have expected but her energy is still off balance from the explosion she endured. I believe that once she is fully healed that everything will go back to what it was before her battle. Her wounds are deep stemming from the S-System to the STING, we just need to wait. Soon she will not be able to access this energy until the time when she can control it."

"How much longer will she be like this?" Yzak asked trying to make sense of it all. The girl should be dead, super seed or not she was under heavy radiation and nuclear energy for way to long; it was a bit frightening to think about someone possessing that much strength yet it was certain that she was not the only one. He watched Milady as she didn't respond quickly, she was holding the frail form of the girl very protectively as if she could disappear at any moment. He didn't blame her, Milday had been hoping and praying for the past sixteen years that the young girl she had watched over would survive and that she would be able to help save her from ROW.

"I don't know," Milady responded with a few tears rolling down her face, "but I promised her mother I would protect her, and now I can finally fulfill that promise. No matter what happens I will protect her even if that means helping her fight off her own power."

"Maryah Virea should have watched over her own daughter better," Yzak said. Milady looked at him with eyes of sorrow.

"Liene deceived her as he did me," Milady replied, "neither of us could escape the lies until it was too late for Maryah and I ran for my life and I abandoned everything that I loved and Meiko was forced into this fate because I wasn't strong enough to save her. You don't know how much guilt that has caused me, I made a promise and I almost couldn't fufil it." Yzak didn't mean to make her upset, he felt bad now for being so blunt about everything; he was the only one who knew the full past of Milady, of Rayla and of everything else she ever was and ever had. She always seemed so strong he had forgotten that inside of Milady's strength was Rayla's weakness. He saw her pain now and he knew he was responsible. In that moment she let go of Meiko, gently laying her back. She then reached up and removed her mask letting Yzak see into her eyes, the crystal blue eyes that held her reason for everything that she had built Redemption upon. Her shattered and broken life that had led her to this place.

"I meant nothing Rayla," he said whispering her most common name, "I mean nothing about you, I know that it still hurts you." She looked down and back at him.

"I know," she replied, "and you're right about everything Yzak. You are my severest critic, without you I would have fell into death from my sorrows and none of this would have happened. We would not have the advantage over Liene if I had become that. Sometimes I fear the darkness for it's not all gone." He took her in an embrace as more tears rolled down her face. He knew this was all very hard for her now, seeing Meiko like this and facing her past.

"I'm not going to let that happen to you," Yzak held her tight, "I'm not going to let it take you. I vow to you once again that your life is my life, I will give my life for you and everything you've built if it comes to that." She cried harder now for she knew the battles ahead could actually bring this to pass. Everything was in such a delicate balance and she would have to keep believing that it would all turn out right for to doubt it would bring more and more darkness into the minds of all those around her. And with the darkness came death, but even then nothing was certain for Meiko had faced more darkness than all and she was alive and more full of light than ever before.

* * *

**SO So So sorry about how long it has take to update.**

**Crazy chapter I know, lots of information, there is just so much I am trying to work through right now. The story was originally just supposed to be just about Meiko and Yaro but I have realized how I have had to work a lot with the other characters in order to continue to really tell the story. I hope to continue on in that pattern but as chapters are moving on now I am going to shift back to bringing Meiko and Yaro's story to the center point. Believe me there is some crazy stuff coming and this story will end on a dark note and Immortal will begin on a dark note. So get ready for some more heavy stuff.**

**Also I was so excited about this chapter because it is the awakening of Meiko in quite a few ways. I hope this satisfies you for awhile because I never know when I will actually get to write with school! It took me more than a month to get this done and I was writing every time I had inspiration.**

**Ok so REVIEW, REVIEW! I am trying to get back into the spirit of the story so writing doesn't take this long, if you REVIEW and tell me your thoughts this could help! REVIEW!  
**

**-Winter chill  
**


	31. Fire In Her Eyes

**I don't normally do this but I'm trying to get back into the spirit of the story, so this chapter will be very short and focus on Meiko again.**

**Phase 29: Fire Within**

* * *

_If I sleep just to dream of You, I'll wake without you there. Even though I'm the sacrifice, you won't try for me not now. Though I'd die to know you love me, I'm all alone, isn't something missing? Isn't someone missing me?_

* * *

Milady sat considering the past, she felt that there was a ray of hope here with her now in the recovering girl that she protected but she knew that even now a ray of hope here would not change things in ORB unless Meiko's heart was healed and ready for the next stage of life. She didn't want to rush the girl for she understood the gravity of the situation, that Meiko Virea had endured far more than she ever had in her young life and that the girl needed a chance for peace even if what she would get would only be short lived.

And she will rise again.

In the past Milady had often wondered if these words would really come to pass, if it was even possible for them to come to pass. They had been void for so long in her mind as she thought about the little girl who deserved so much more, who's life was never meant to be this broken shattered, shameful thing. She thought more about the look in Meiko's eyes when she saw her and spoke to her for the first time in roughly seventeen years; they were hard and slightly cold but within them was life and within that life Milady saw that she had hope for something. The grace of her true past had influenced her as Milady always hoped it would.

"For it all was lost but now it is here with us," Milady spoke the words in a sigh, "how can I face it all again." She was talking to herself, something that she hadn't done in a long time, for Yzak was usually there to listen to her but now he was off working on more adjustments to their hope.

For they believed that Meiko would come around despite what appearances held.

* * *

Meiko Virea stretched her arms ignoring the numb soreness that plagued her ever muscle, she had woken up that morning and been unable to go to sleep; spending the day in bed was really beginning to wear on her. She was still shocked and surprised by her surroundings every time she woke up, it was so odd being in this place of peace and having someone always by her side through the super seed outbursts though she did not understand what was really happening. She moved her legs out from under the covers and felt the soft carpet beneath her toes, this was certainly a very different place than she had ever been to in her entire life.

She stood up slowly not wanting to hurt herself and she shuddered as she glanced at the black glove that hid her fake hand; she would have to get used to that. Sure she should have escaped with more injuries than just a lost hand but she found it creepy that this fake attachment seemed to work just as well.

She walked across the room breathed in the air and walked toward the window. As she opened the large blinds that kept it covered she was amazed at the amount of sunlight that streamed in through the large window. She saw that it was a balcony before her and she opened the door and stepped out. The wind blew around her in peace, here she was standing in the sunlight again and this time she really felt that it was shining down upon her. The wind played with her hair as she walked to the edge of the balcony, placed her hands on the wall before her and stared down into the view below. It was as if she was up on a high mountain staring down into a valley in a way, a beautiful garden lay before her. She had the strangest feeling that somehow she belonged here to this peaceful place.

She remembered everything Uzumi had said about her awakening and she wondered what would come next. She could live here in this peaceful place forever but there was a life outside and there were people out there. She wondered how the war was going and if there was even any hope of it ending quickly. She wondered if she had dealt ROW a hard blow or if they were back on their feet. She wondered if she had killed John Liene or not.

These thoughts wold be heavy weights in her mind, she knew that she would have time to think over them as she recovered, as for now she wanted to avoid thinking about the truth as much as she could for it could bring her out of this quicker than she wanted to be. She also wondered about her host; how long would Milady care for her? Did she expect something of Meiko in return?

* * *

Meiko was very silent a week later as she ate at the same table as Milady and Yzak, it was a new experience for her as she was finally getting well enough to move around and she was invited to eat in the dining room instead of in her room. Milady and Yzak both watched her carefully trying to assess what they were dealing with now, her wounds were healing but had her heart healed?

They waited patiently for Meiko to say something, both communicating to each other through their eyes. The girl was silent as stone and completely unreadable, years in ROW had been hard enough on her that she wasn't hiding her feelings on purpose anymore, it just wasn't natural for her not to show them. Milady had no doubt that Meiko was at war within herself as anyone would be at this point, trying to decide what to do and what to say in this situation. These people had saved her life and they had been caring for her without any expectation of anything in return, this was a new situation for her. She ate very little of what was on the plate before her, she seemed to have a very small appetite, very odd indeed.

Yzak knew how hard this dinner was for Milady, she was trying not to stare at the girl before her. Milady's mind was all over the map comparing this girls features to those of her parents and wondering how her disposition would have been had ROW not hardened her. This was their hope before her, and yet she seemed so small and innocent. Meiko had seen so much and yet she had an air of greatness about her that Milady knew she inherited from her father. The girl had some of the soft features of her mother but within her eyes there were echos of something more, there was something ethereal within her. Milady recognized it and reverenced it as if she was staring into the eyes of the past and seeing an angel before her. Seeing her now so grown up; there was nothing left of the baby that Milady had once cared for except for her presence.

"The doctors are impressed with your accelerated healing rate," Yzak said to Meiko trying to start a conversation. This dinner table was starting to get uncomfortable and he had no doubt that Meiko realized that Milady kept staring at her, "with any luck you'll be back to normal very soon."

"Then where will I go?" Meiko asked with a little concern in her eyes. She wanted to stay here forever, in this place of peace even if these people made her feel odd. She didn't know what to do about the woman whom she knew she had seen somewhere before. She couldn't see Milady's eyes but she understood that the woman was staring at her for she felt her gaze.

"You will stay here for as long as you like," Milady responded, "we wish to offer you a home forever if you wish." Milady knew that she shouldn't have spoken so quick, the girl was probably already out of her comfort zone enough without Milady's kind actions. She knew what it was like to not want to accept help from another but she couldn't help the fact that she needed to offer it anyway. So many long years were spent awaiting Meiko's arrival and now that she was here Milady was beside herself; how could she speak to this girl when the fact was that the girl had endured everything because of her? Milady felt so guilty about everything and she just wanted it all to be right but at this point she wasn't sure how to speak to the girl before her and how to tell her everything she needed to know. Besides all that there was a war around them now and they didn't have much time before they would need to finally fight but Milady knew she would not enter the battle without Meiko, yet how could she ask this girl to fight? She knew what needed to be done yet now that it came down to it she was very nervous about doing it. How would Meiko react to the truth of everything? Perhaps it would be better to leave it all alone and to forget the past and to focus on the future.

"Thank you," Meiko said simply, her eyes still blank, "I can't thank you enough for all you've done so far, but I just have to ask why? Why would you risk your lives to save me from the STING? And what do you expect of me?" There it was the perfect opportunity, Milady knew it and Yzak knew it yet there was no way either of them would jump for it. Where to begin?

"Meiko," Yzak said sighing with the knowledge that Milady would say nothing, "we don't really expect anything of you but as it happens we are planning on explaining some things to you very soon. There is war still going on out there and Redemption is a militaristic faction. We will be involved in fighting and this place may not be the safest in the times to come, that goes without saying but anyhow, we wish to see the end of ROW as we believe you do. Your heroic actions in destroying the STING have earned you the right to do whatever you wish from here on out, but truth be told Liene survived and we will fight him and if you wish to fight alongside us or alone you are welcome." There it was, Milady was happy with how Yzak had explained it. Uzumi's words echoed in Meikos mind, it was quite possible that she would have to fight.

To arise on the battlefield again was something she didn't want but she knew that circumstances were beyond her at this point and that she may not have a choice. It wasn't surprising to her that Liene lived, he had a way of going on and on whether anyone wanted him to or not. He had survived quite a bit of rough scrapes and had the uncanny ability to escape bad situations. The mention of his name did stir anger within her, she hated him for everything and Milady noticed the coldness in her eyes at the mention of his name. Meiko also knew she would never fight under the orders of another again, she had tried that once now and she was done. She did not care for the military of Redemption and she knew she would never be able to right under the banner of another.

"I do not have an answer for you on any of those terms," Meiko said and Yzak was surprised by the cold tone in her voice, "Liene is the greatest evil in this world and as long as he exists I fear the wars will continue, but for now I do not wish to fight." Yzak looked at Milady, she knew that he wanted an acceleration in their plan. He wanted Meiko to know everything about the war with ORB, if she knew her friends were in danger she might not be so indecisive but Milady clearly was not in favor of that idea. Yzak was too eager to get on the battlefield again, they had to continue to bide their time as they evaluated ROW's position at this point. Meiko may not have destroyed them but she did weaken them and they seemed to be regrouping now. In that case they would probably return stronger and Redemption needed to be ready for that. What happened in the PLANTs was not their concern, for it bore no marks of ROW, the strategy was too bold. Milady knew that ORB would be able to hold off for now.

"You have no obligation to ever fight again," Milady said thinking about everything, "but you have the right to know what is happening in the world around you. Just make sure you know what it is you want Meiko and run for that. What other people want of you right now is not important." Milady couldn't believe what she was saying now, she just wanted to tell Meiko everything and she just wanted the girl to forgive her for it all but she was frightened by it. Suddenly Milady stood up quickly and excused herself. Meiko was shocked and Yzak was not, he knew what she was going through now.

"What is it about her that makes her so different?" Meiko asked Yzak.

"She's seen death, she's seen darkness," Yzak responded, "and she lived, and now she wishes to stop the darkness so that no one ever has to see it again. Yet she can not accomplish this alone, she wishes you to help her but she doesn't know how to ask you Meiko. You've gone through so much already, she would hate you to have to endure anymore." Meiko thought about it, she knew that Milady wanted something from her and she had expected this.

"I may yet fight again," Meiko replied thinking about it, "but if I do fight again it will be for my own reasons, not because anyone wants me to." He expected this response, it was just as someone he knew would put it. He knew that she would fight, but it would take time to bring her around.

* * *

Meiko walked down the halls of the base and as she did she passed groups of people practicing gun handling and mobile suit training. This was truly a militaristic place. As she walked she noticed the looks people gave her, they were of awe and respect; this was something she was not used to and it made her uncomfortable. She had spent a lot of time thinking about her dinner with Milady and Yzak and she had felt it would be best to see this place for herself. She wanted to know what she was really capable of accomplishing in a place like this.

It was so different than ROW; the way people treated each other was so nice and sweet compared to everything else. Despite how different the place was she still had a hard time when she thought about taking up arms alongside anyone. These people were not ROW but like any organization they would have expectations and she understood that she fought differently than everyone else and that in the press of the battle she was unpredictable. She could never follow tactics or submit herself to any particular banner ever again, she had come upon an independent streak and now she was free; she would not give that up to any military no matter how noble they were. She paused her walk in front of a class of people who were training in hand to hand fighting, she smiled at the weakness in their movements; some lacked confidence in themselves and without it how could they hope to land in their feet when jumping away from a blow. She turned away as she thought about Liene's training classes and how she dominated in all of them from a young age but she understood now it was never fair.

She was a coordinator and on top of that she was a super seeded coordinator and she always had an advantage. This was why Liene wanted her so badly, because she could fight stronger than anyone else.

She exited the training area and found herself in a mobile suit bay staring up at what looked like a large Gundam, unfinished but still majestic. She had never seen anything like this machine in her life and she had trained in mobile suits since she was a child. She just stared up in awe at it's dark green coloring and aerodynamic form; so this place manufactured weapons as well. She wondered what this machine was called; it was too beautiful for words. If anyone had happened upon her they would have seen in her eyes the echos of eternity. Sadness filled her soul at the sight of this beautiful machine; the world around her was in turmoil and yet this machine sat her, unfinished and unused just as she sat there in that base not fully healed and unable to fight.

She felt strangely as she turned her gaze away from the machine and turned to leave, it was as if someone was watching her.

Milady stood on the balcony of the bay watching as the girl left and nodding to herself. She had made the right choices for this model indeed and Milady was sure now what she had to do. The time for guilt was over. ORB was going to war and Milady knew that the moment the PLANTs move to attack the homeland there will be a need. A need for the phoenix to arise on the wings of the Redemption.

* * *

**Short and sweet for now, because I have no time to write more but I miss you all. Some have stopped reviewing and this saddens me. Some have stopped reading and the story remains unfinished.**

**Well Please REVIEW if you like it and tell me your thoughts. I wanted to tone it down this time around and I frankly do not have time to go into all the other characters right now, it's easier for me to write Meiko so that is what i am giving you to hold you over.**

**REVIEW  
REVIEW!**

**-WinterChill  
**


	32. Arrival of Dreams

**200 Reviews! :D**

**A short piece of the puzzle:  
**

**Phase 30: Arrival of Dreams**

* * *

Blasts rained upon the base as Kiran was awakened from his peaceful sleep. He heard the alarm and knew the sound well. He sat up quickly rubbing the sleep from his eyes and pulling on his uniform. The Tranquility had not arrived and they were not ready for this! The outpost was not fully defended without the special forces from ORB and Kiran fought off fear. He ran out from his room toward the hangar where the Minerva was and he saw many others doing the same. The base was alive with activity now and he knew that many were as scared as he was now.

* * *

Meyrin frowned as she made it to the bridge of her ship, she did not want to send Kiran out there again but she knew he would insist and this time he would be fighting his own. She turned as Ceveris floated to the bridge.

"Have you recieved orders yet?" he asked, "are you launching."

"I do have orders to defend this base," Meyrin responded quickly giving commands to the pilots of the ship, "and you Ceveris have no obligation to follow us any further. We have submitted this ship to ORB's military for now, and as you are not a part of that you do not need to fight." She hated the fact that she would not have his backup in the hard battle they would be facing but she knew it was better that she let him know the situation they were in.

"Not a chance I'm going to let the kid face this alone," Ceveris responded turning toward the door, "Kiran will fight, you know this Meyrin. This time they are coordinators and they are more powerful than what he has faced so far. I will launch to protect him not ORB." She was glad he made his intentions clear. She now prayed that the Tranquility would arrive soon as the Minerva moved out of the hangar.

* * *

Yaro heard it in his mind as something exploded with in him. He sat in his mobile suit cockpit as they had recieved a distress call from the outpost. Hopefully they would arrive in time, and then he would unleash the dreamer upon those who were enemies of peace.

* * *

The Minerva lifted off into the Fray of the battle as Meyrin shouted orders and the crew followed. Alicesia was tense as she saw the numbers for the ZAFT forces that had been sent. Such a large force for such a small base, they weren't looking for a fight they were preparing for an annihilation.

"Watch out!" Meyrin yelled as the ship banked hard to the right and a blast moved right past them, "take us under!" The ship then submerged into the water and Alicesia held on tight not understanding what they were doing. It was then that the water above them cut and she saw that a large positron cannon blast was blocked by how quickly they went under. Meyrin smiled at the success of their movements.

"Get us up, then fire the positron cannons dead ahead!" Meyrin yelled, "Alicesia, give our mobile suits permission to launch!" Alicesia turned to do her job and she saw more orders from the base. It seemed they had more of a problem

"Captain there are three new gundams out there! They are tearing through the main defenses!" Alicesia said alerting the bridge.

"Get Ceveris and Kiran out there!" Meyrin shouted as they came out of the water firing the deadly positron cannon into the ship directly in front of them. Meyrin would rather not kill but at this point they would die if they didn't do something. It was times like these where she wished she had Kira and Lacus around to keep the spirits of everyone up. She glanced at more of the base orders frantically as she heard Ceveris and Kiran launching, it seemed the Tranquility and more ORB forces were nearby but they would still have to hold out until the ship got there.

* * *

Kiran launched into the battled and immediately starting dodging shots when Ceveris came from behind him and started cutting through mobile suits with his powerful machine. Kiran knew that he was fighting the PLANTs now and part of him was hesitant; what if his friends were out there somewhere? He remembered his best friend had always talked of joining the military. Now was not the time to think about it, he had left everyone without saying goodbye but now he had to focus on the battle.

He maneuvered around the machines before him looking for weak points as Ceveris had taught him, he only wanted to disarm them not to kill them. ORB had set up lights in the ocean that lit up the sky for their mobile suits but the sun was rising now. He finally made it around one mobile suit and disarmed it as Ceveris destroyed one that was coming toward him. Kiran really wished he could tell Ceveris not to kill them but he knew that it made little difference to the older pilot what happened to these people. They were enemies and to him enemies needed to be destroyed; it was against everything Kiran had been taught but he knew that not very many people were raised as he was. Not very many people believed in the ideals that governed him and so many of the people he knew.

"KId there are those Gundams from the report," Kiran looked in awe to see the two new models, they were definitely more powerful than the Courage. He gulped as one headed toward him and Ceveris. "Stay close," Ceveris ordered and Kiran obeyed following his every move through the battlefield, protected behind the older Gundam.

The Gundam's then attacked them and Ceveris shouted Kiran orders as they both fought it together. Soon Kiran found he wasn't doing much and Ceveris was battling it alone when another seemed to be coming for him. He knew now was not the time to be a coward but he could do much more facing units that weren't so strong. He then did what he knew how to do and plunged toward the ocean pulling up just as he was at the waters surface and speeding along it toward a cloud of weaker machines. He then engaged one and was backed up by a group of ORB soldiers.

* * *

"Those machines are too strong for the ORB forces!" Alicesia declared in shock as the three gundams moved through the lines of the battle without even slight concern to their own well being.

"Focus on the fight ahead of us," Meyrin yelled, "we need to keep our minds on the battlefield at hand." Alicesia obeyed focusing on their immediate enemies though she was awestruck by the new Gundams. She wondered what it would be like to pilot one and to rule the battlefield like they did.

* * *

Kiran disarmed a few more mobile suits when he turned to a new contact on his radar and saw that it was one of the Gundam's from before; the one that had tried to engage him earlier. He moved his mobile suit back quickly and searched for weak points as the machine attacked him seemingly full force. He fought the machine back trying to conjure up that feeling that he had gotten in past battles. He wanted that strength now; where was it? He fought fear that was filling him as he tried to beat back the machine which kept gaining grounds.

"STOP IT!" Kiran yelled pulling his beam saber and meeting his opponents attack. He glanced around for help but there was no one there. His beam saber was knocked aside quickly so he drew other weapons but he knew now he was out matched. He searched for an escape but he knew he was too inexperienced to handle this. It was then that a blast shook the battlefield and two ZAFT ships exploded from their line.

Kiran glanced and so did the other pilot as a mobile suit streaked through the sky faster than any other on the battlefield. The machine had literally appeared from thin air with power and strength.

Who was it?

* * *

He glanced briefly at his targeting computer as he sent off another large blast from his main guns, this time annihilating the units around the Minerva. He smiled to himself as he turned now toward his real target, it seemed that little Kiran had decided to try and take on more than he had bargained for. With swift movements he spun the PLANT gundam pilot in a circle as the enemy tried to keep up with his speed. Yaro smiled at this, it seemed the pilot was no match for him as something exploded in the back of his mind and a glow electrified through his cockpit.

"Who are you?" he saw Kiran's face and it confirmed to him that it was his brother on the battlefield. Yaro revealed himself to Kiran and the boy had a face of clear shock. Kiran didn't recognize his brother at first glance, something was different about him and his eyes were glowing brightly now.

"Get back to the Minerva Kiran," Yaro said as Kiran noticed a fresh wave of ORB forces filling the battlefield, "we brought enough re-enforcements to handle this." Yaro then turned away leaving his brother no room for answer. He turned back to his battle against the gundam and found that soon all three were gravitating toward him. He smiled at this as his seed blazed to a brighter level and he lifted the arms of his gundam firing off nets of lasers and trapping one within their destructive power. He then pulled a rifle off the back of his mobile suit and fired off a round taking out the main weapons of another and without loosing a beat he pulled his beam saber in time to meet a close attack from the final of the three. He spun around this machine quickly knocking away the pilots beam saber and crushing the camera of his machine. He had every mind to completely destroy these three but he felt anger enough to leaven them humiliated as he blasted toward the plant ships.

Mobile suits tried to stop him and he destroyed those that he didn't have time to disarm. He found himself in front of one of the ships quickly and he fired a shot into the bridge instantly destroying the ship. As he turned to the others he saw another strange mobile suit fighting off the PLANT forces.

"With me," Yaro sent to the pilot who was obviously experienced, "we're going after the head ship."

"Alright, I don't believe I've met you I'm Ceveris," he said, "and your name is…" Yaro glanced at him with a slight dark gaze, his eyes continued to glow.

"I am Yaro Yamato," he responded before blasting toward the flagship. Ceveris followed him and eventually took the lead clearing the path as Yaro's gundam transformed. He let his cockpit carry him forward and he found himself laying forward now aiming his main guns. The extra feature of the Dreamer, it was made for both long range and short range. In long rage mode it was a little more vulnerable though which is why he called for the other pilot. He smiled as he aimed his guns and locked onto the ships weak point. The battlefield turned as the gundam fired a large positron blast equal to that of a ship into the flagship of the enemy forces. It was as if everyone stopped in awe of what had just taken place.

* * *

Meyrin frowned at what she witnessed as the PLANT forces retreated from the sight of the new ORB forces now. Yaro had almost single handedly beaten back their forces and he did it so brutally. It was wrong for a machine to posses that much power to be given to someone so young.

"We've won the field!" Alicesia declared as Kiran's mobile suit entered the ship.

"No Alicesia," Meyrin said standing up remembering what it was like to live in the PLANTS, "we've fought hard today but we've stooped low. I fear that because of this battle the retaliation will be strong. In a way we've lost because we've allowed ourselves to kill them and they won't take this lightly. Never forget Alicesia that so many died here today and I fear that the losses will fuel the anger of the people. I fear what is coming."

* * *

It was uncanny, it was something she would have never expected. It was just wrong. Jayley sat there in space after seeing the footage and reading the reports. ORB had indeed developed more strength than she had ever foreseen that they could. She had worked years on those three Gundams and suddenly ORB comes out with a new transformable model and all her hard work was made void. There was no doubt to her that the PLANT council would be unnerved by the situation, so many had been killed by that machine. She was lucky that her three gundams had made it out. Now what actions could she take. She stared at the video thinking as she saw it over and over again. There was a blue glow around the outline of the cockpit, something she didn't really want to see.

That kind of glow had appeared once before, in he eyes of Meiko Virea in her final battle; there was no doubt in her mind that it was Lienes precious super seed. She knew of only one other who could posses such power, the original prototype, the A1. It was impossible in her mind that the A1 could be in ORB, the child was safe in the halls of Redemption for sure. Here the evidence supported but she didn't want it to. The connection was wrong, everything was wrong.

"Beat pretty bad," she turned at the sassy voice in the room as a young girl walked forward with a cocky look in her face. The girl watched the videos streaming by and let out a small laugh, "His technique is sloppy Jayley, I have no doubt in my ability to face him."

"No Gera," Jayley responded breathing out, "not yet. We've only seen part of what he can do and your mobile suit remains unfinished."

"Then what will we do?" Gera said with slight anger on her face. Jayley let off her own glare; Gera was her father's most powerful warrior, his own child that he believed could match the level Liene achieved with Meiko Virea but Jayley knew better than that Gera was good but she was limited as the technology that went into her training, in order to beat this new warrior they would have to catch him off guard with her.

"We will bide our time for now," Jayley responded, "for he has given us the extra push we need to continue this war. Just wait for you chance, for I promise you will get it. This enemy has come out with a bang but the war will weaken him and then we will strike."

* * *

**So I was working on the next chapter when I realized that this would be a good place to cut off for another short chapter, since I've been slacking off lately I decided to deliver this piece early.**

**Another reason was that the next part of the chapter takes place a month and a half later so I decided to cut if off before the time transition.**

**Thanks to those who reviewed my last little bit, those reviews kinda refreshed me and I'm slowly getting back into the spirit of the story so keep reviewing and to those of you who haven't reviewed please begin.**

**REVIEW**

**Thanks for reading**

**-WinterChill  
**


	33. The Eye of the Storm

**Phase 31: The Eye of the Storm**

* * *

Time has a way of making things seem more hopeless than they are and as time went by the PLANT and ORB forces were locked in a stalemate. For a month it had been the same way, the PLANT council issued warnings and threats to ORB and then the would attack. The ZAFT forces were shaken to the core by the strength that was left in ORB. Morganrate increase weapons production and released new mobile suits to fight alongside the Dreamer, which in and of itself had proved to be a force in ORB's favor. Within that month it seemed that Yaro's power and abilities were increasing. The PLANT's attacked ORB outposts not wanting to directly attack the homeland yet. After two weeks more of battle Athrun defended against the one attack on the homeland in his new mobile suit, the Truth. His mobile suit dealt another powerful blow to the PLANT forces.

Though the battles had reached more of a stalemate than anyone had predicted Lady Cagalli was disheartened by the amount of death that this war was bringing. Yaro Yamato was becoming a frightening force on the battlefield because he was more unpredictable, sometimes he disarmed but more and more often he killed.

A month and a half of fighting, no end in sight.

To Jayley this was just the beginning for she was biding her time and waiting for the right moment, she knew it was soon though she felt a slight bit of fear; for the boy in the Dreamer was becoming a nightmare.

* * *

The machines hums began to annoy her as she sat on top of the production crates checking off the supplies that had just arrived. She could probably get away with doing nothing in this base but she was tired of feeling useless. Two weeks ago communications with ORB had ceased because Lacus was worried the PLANTs would be able to trace their current location, so Leyas was anxious about what was going on on earth. Apparently after Yaro had made his debt in battle the PLANTs doubled back for a whole week before trying to attack another base. Kiran and the Minerva had been sent to protect the homeland, so she was glad her twin brother had been removed from the main portion of the battle, however this information was two weeks old.

The silence order was not without it's backup measures, if ORB was in terrible danger Cagalli would still be able to call upon Lacus so they assumed that ORB was still standing strong. The machine hums seemed to get louder as more supplies passed. She yawned jumping off the crates and running toward the other side of the large hangar as she saw her father enter, but before she could get to him she saw that he was headed to his unfinished mobile suit. He probably had so much work to do and so much on his mind she thought it best not to bother him. Instead she walked over to where Trey sat working on some sort of program and sat on the empty chair beside him. She looked at her clip board and added up all the numbers in her head quickly writing totals at the bottom of the page. Their weapons supplies were growing quickly as if they were going to war soon and she wondered if her mother was closer to making any decisions.

She glanced at Trey as he seemed to be concentrating really hard. He breathed in and turned to her.

"This is just not coming now," he sighed, "my calibrations are way off and I can't seem to get this thing to work." She knew what he was working on. He had been analyzing battle data from the Hatred for awhile now trying to decrypt some ROW backup measures installed into the suit, he had a hunch that he could unlock the technology behind the S-System if he worked hard enough. She glanced over at his work reading the errors he was getting and she reached over to the keyboard and started typing.

Some energy flowed through her as her fingers moved on the keyboard and she didn't know what drove her on as she began to logically reason out what he was dealing with.

"What exactly are you doing?" he asked as she hit the enter key and the computer screen changed as the code complied and revealed a data plan that he had never knew existed; hidden in the encrypted files of his machine.

"What?" he said shocked and she looked at him confused.

"It was a simple cypher, created to throw off more advanced programmers," she responded, "the letters are stored within a vector to hide a keyword, I just traversed the data to unscramble the word and run it against the rest of the code." He should have been able to figure that out, it wasn't too difficult. The day of working on this was probably getting to him, he really needed a break.

"Come on," she said standing up as if reading his mind. She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the chair, "you've been in here all morning, time to take a break."

"Alright," he responded knowing that she was right, he had been in there for hours. He was led by her through the halls of the base to a lookout into space. It was here that they often came when the work of the base got stressful. Over the past six weeks the two of them had began to work together quite a bit, and as many people still found it hard to accept an ex-ROW agent she was one of his only friends. He had learned quickly how sensitive she was, and he knew she still felt hurt from all the events that had taken place, and how her big brother had left them. He knew how the silence from ORB was killing her, and she knew how his past pained him.

"I wonder what is happening down there," Leyas said sitting down against the wall and looking toward the earth, "It's hard to believe all the bad things that happen there when it looks so beautiful from up here."

"It's like a jewel in the sky," he said thinking about the many times he saw earth from the view of a battlefield and from the vantage of a ROW base or ship, "and honestly I don't believe that it will remain this hard forever."

"I know," Leyas replied thinking about things that she felt inside her heart. "I don't know why but I feel like everything is changing, like there is something stirring down there. Do you think that it could be possible that ORB will be able to beat the PLANTs without our help?" Trey thought about it and he wasn't exactly sure, the PLANTs were known as a large force, but under Lacus the military had downsized because they were living in a time of peace.

"Anything is possible," Trey expressed thinking on it more, "I suppose they could but I really do not know." He turned to her and saw that she was wearing a slight smile and a thoughtful expression.

"Then peace will come," Leyas said with a even larger smile, "for if the PLANTs loose to ORB the people will turn away from Jayley; then my mother can get through to them and with the PLANTs on our side we will be able to defeat ROW." She let out a short laugh and he knew that she was saying this to try and convince herself that it would all work out.

"Whatever happens I'll be right with you Leyas," he said reassuring her and putting an arm around her, "One way or another this war will end." She smiled at him.

"I know," she said.

* * *

He fired his cannons with a new level of strength as a blue glow surrounded him once again. The adrenaline of battle rushed through him and he felt strong as he fought the field. The ORB forces cheered their champion on as Yaro began to turn the tide of the battlefield with his strength.

It was then that they lifted their eyes in even greater joy as the Truth entered the battlefield along with the Destiny and Impulse. Athrun Zala and Shinn Auska had arrived. The PLANTs had decided to attack with their strongest forces yet trying to destroy the outpost closest to ORB in order to secure their own troops there which would give them a station to attack the homeland from. This strategy was picked up by ORB's leaders who responded accordingly. Athrun watched Yaro's movements with a bit of sadness, this boy was taking the battlefield in the way of a true warrior and Athrun knew that road would lead him to much pain and hardships.

"Shinn take the right field with Lunamaria, I'm going to give Yaro backup," Athrun said in his instructing tone.

"Be careful Athrun," Shinn replied, "and watch those ships, I hear they may be more ready for us that we expect." Athrun knew he was responding to the rumors of harsher weapons installed on the ZAFT ships. He wondered if it was true. Before he could respond they both witnessed a large blast issuing forth from one of the ships and streaming through the outpost taking down everything in it's path.

Before saying anything Athrun shot off to where Yaro was, he knew they had to act fast to take out that ship and the Dreamer was more equipped for it than the Truth. The dreamer was built as an all around suit where the Truth was made with different attachments. As Athrun had it now he was ready for mobile suit combat and the Gundams that the ZAFT forces had sent out against ORB many times. As Yaro improved in his mobile suit abilities it seemed that those guys were getting better as well.

"Yaro we need to take out that ship," Athrun said urgently contacting his nephew, "you need to use the Dreamers cannon, I'll back you up."

"Roger," Yaro said and the two's movements synced as they worked their way toward the large ship. Athrun watched in amazement as Yaro transformed the Dreamer, it never ceased to stun him how they put so much firepower in that machine.

"Targeting," he heard Yaro say as he defended the Dreamer's weak side, "firing." The blast from the Dreamer tore through the side of the ship and it exploded quickly. Lives once again lost, but what choice did ORB have this time? The PLANTs were playing a dangerous game. As the ship was exploding Yaro transformed back into the Dreamer and shot off into the battlefield fighting through the swarm of troops, even though it was clear they would be falling back soon, there was something different about him on the battlefield. Something Athrun could not place, something he would never be able to understand.

* * *

She slammed her hand on the desk in front of her as she read through the report again; no matter what she threw at him, the pilot of the Dreamer kept getting in the way of her plans. The PLANT council was getting anxious about the ability of one mobile suit to throw them off so much but it was not like he was doing it all alone. He had others with him, Athrun and his lot. The troubling mystery to her was how this pilot kept getting stronger.

"It seems that you are running out of options," she heard Gera's twisted laugh and turned to see those deep dark eyes, "you know what you have to do Jayley. I have reached a level that even Meiko Virea couldn't touch if she were still alive. Please let me face him." Jayley didn't like the darkness in the girls eyes but she knew that she was running out of time to figure things out. Gera's mobile suit had just reached it's completion stages and even if she couldn't destroy the Dreamer she could stop him long enough for the others to break through. Jayley shook her head as she glanced back at the PLANT's report, it seemed that they wanted her to give the next attempt her all, to send everything they had into battle. She realized now was the time to see how ORB responded to this. An angry look rose on her face and she turned back to Gera.

"They will feel our wrath," Jayley said angrily.

"I'll make sure of it," Gera replied with a dark expression and a twisted laugh. All of ORB would tremble now, Jayley turned to her computer screen as she realized now it was her turn to call all the shots. No more weak attempts; strength and strength alone would prevail.

* * *

Kira stood in front of the large machine typing in more and more instructions; he was getting closer to cracking the algorithm to get this program right. His mobile suit needed to be ready soon and he wasn't sure if that was possible with the setbacks they had been experiencing. It drove him on in his work, he had to connect the dots to the machinery and to try harder now. He spent countless hours in her perfecting everything they had worked on and it seemed that they were still far from being finished.

"Daddy I need to talk to you," Kira turned away from his mobile suit to see his youngest daughter Kayla standing behind him. She looked scared and frightened. He locked his work and knelt down to her.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" he asked wondering what could have frightened her so.

"Not here," Kayla replied with a slight whine in her voice. He stood up understanding, there were plenty of engineers about, this was not a private place. He nodded to his daughter and took her hand. She was so small still, he wondered how she was able to stay strong with all that was happening around her. No child should be forced to endure this. So much dark and uncertainty. He knew that he had to be sure to protect her, his little girl. He led her into the family's private suite and as she sat down on the couch he sat down beside her waiting to hear what it was she had to say.

"Daddy, I'm frightened," he listened to her begin, "it's been happening for so long now I guess I should be used to it." He wondered what she was speaking of now when she clarified, "you know how I always try to give advice and it seems that I know things. Daddy, I can see things in my dreams, and they are real. I can see things that are happening, I don't know why but I can see the present and very rarely a glimpse of the future." Kira was not understanding how this was possible, this girl was just a child and the things she said now were not even plausible. How could a person have awareness of things to the point of being able to glimpse into the lives of those around them and even more un-plausible; how could any person see something that hasn't yet been determined for the future was made by the decisions of the present,

"Kayla these are just dreams," he responded when she interrupted him.

"I dreamed back then that a machine would explode the STING," she said, "I dreamed that Yaro would not return with us. I have dreamed so many things that I find out later have happened around me in the time that I was sleeping, as if I can enter into the mind of someone else and see their decisions. And when I see the future it's usually immediate, determined but now it's different Daddy." He listened as she spoke more.

"What I saw is different than anything," she looked at him with fear in her eyes shaking her head, "I saw Yaro fighting and I saw Meiko, the girl who died. I saw her alive. Daddy She's alive and I saw her and Yaro arguing. I saw Yaro fighting and I saw him dying inside, and last night I know that he's different. I saw his battle. I saw how he fights. I warned him daddy, I warned him before we left because the darkness wants him now. Daddy we have to go back, he have to save him." Kira was surprised by the things he was hearing now. If Kayla was right about her dreams that he suspected things in ORB were much worse than Cagalli was letting on.

* * *

The place she was in now was so different from anything she had ever known in her entire life, it was more than she had ever dreamed of in her entire life. Meiko Virea's recovery over the six weeks was not as rapid as expected, there were more super seed outbursts and troubling visions in her mind but aside from that she had never been happier. This house on earth was so beautiful and the people around her were kinder than she expected, they were nothing like the people in ROW. Everyone was so genuine with their kindness. She had been given a few tours and every time she was in the company of another person she felt safe.

She did not miss the nervous feelings she used to always have in the past. Here she didn't have to be on edge, for she was beginning to understand that this place was the opposite of everything that ROW was and that was the reason why they were so determined to stop ROW. She hadn't seen much of Milady in the three months, and the times she did see her she felt that the woman was so strange and so familiar yet she couldn't place it. It was Milady who made her feel the most safe, she had given Meiko so much and had let Meiko know that she was welcome to stay with them for as long as she wanted and that she was free to leave if she ever felt the need. It was different having options in life.

Everything was so unreally beautiful and though she felt that the people here were amazing she did spend much of her time alone in the gardens of the island underneath the trees and in the peace of nature.

She was in peace but still there were times of darkness when she let the images of her visions fill her mind and she wondered what trouble lay in the outside world. She didn't understand what these meant and what warnings they carried but she knew that they were all so dark that something huge was going on and that some force was begging her to do something about it even if the people here seemed content to let her life in perfect peace.

Redemption was a strange organization, they did carry out anti-ROW operations but they never spoke much of them. She heard rumors of wars outside but it seemed as if the people were unaffected by it all yet still concerned. A delicate mix of peace and responsibility; she wondered every day what her place in it was and what expectations they might have.

As the days went by her thoughts became very scattered, thinking on everything around her, everything within her and everything in the outside world. The people that she cared about were still out there and she wondered if they were safe and what had really happened to them all. Had they escaped the explosion? She had no doubt that she gave them enough warning, the one she really worried about in this was KIra Yamato as he had been with her to the near end, but she knew that these worries were useless and she assured herself of who she was thinking about. Kira Yamato was one of the greatest if not the greatest mobile suit pilot of all time, if anyone could get out of a bad situation it was him. He probably could have done more than she did but she was different so she made it out of an impossible situation. It still pained her inside that some of the ORB soldiers and Clyne faction could have been destroyed with the explosion she caused. Her heart ached to know what had happened but she never gathered the courage to bring it up to the people in this place.

Her thoughts turned to Yaro Yamato; how did he take everything if he was alive still? He had lost Uzumi and then she knew that she had lost him with her actions, he was probably very different now than the boy she knew before. She longed to understand and to see him again but she wondered if he would believe it or if he would be happy or not. She had been here three months now, a long time apart, no doubt any pain of her loss had passed from him. She hated thinking of it but it plagued her sometimes along with her visions for every time she saw him through the power of the super seed she saw a coldness around him; it had not taken him over completely but it lingered with him.

Sometimes she wondered what would happen if she returned to ORB but some gut feeling told her not too. She was finally near full recovery and without relevant excuse as before she believed it would be safer to remain here during recovery. What would happen if she moved now.

"Thinking on the past or the future?" she turned to see Yzak Joule behind her, of all the people in the base he seemed to be the most different. In a way he wasn't as readily kind to her, he was more offbeat than the others. Whenever she saw Milady he seemed to be around, it was as if he was the most trusted of the people in the organization and probably more than that.

"Everything," Meiko responded to his question not giving any details, she hated thinking on everything but as time went on she ran out of things to do. Yzak watched her expression carefully and knew what it was that it meant, this girl was concerned about everything she didn't know; she was very much like he expected her to be. The past six weeks he knew that leaving her in the dark would be hard on her but Milady seemed determined not to speak of the things that plagued the world, she was determined to let Meiko have some peace while the battlefield was still scattered and divided.

This Yzak followed but he didn't really agree with everything, it was getting harder and harder to ignore the truth of what was really happening and if he couldn't ignore it he knew that he would have to join the fight.

"I know we haven't spoken much about the world around us," Yzak said looking around him, this place that they now saw was beautiful in the midst of Milady's gardens, he knew it to be a good place to think, "but it's a heavy load to know everything and to be unable to do anything for I await the orders of Milady as much as you await a sign on which path to take." He saw a slight coldness in the midst of her eyes and knew that it was not from feelings she had toward him but rather from the dark that she was forced to endure her entire life, it was truly a miracle that there was an shred of humanity left within this girl, it was something that he had not expected even though he should have realized it when thinking about her past. Milady always believed in it because she believed that Liene could not change the fundamentals of who Meiko was; the genetics that came from her parents controlled her destiny more than anything he could do to try and change her.

"Meiko if you have any questions about the world you can ask me, I know Milady ignores the real issues but I will not," he said, he knew now that their alliance with this girl was the most important thing they could do for she was the only one of the bearers of the super seed who had really manifested.

"Who is she really?" Meiko said finally speaking, giving the question that had been burning in her mind for so long, "for she is so strange, it's like I've met her before and when she speaks to me I feel compelled to listen. I think in these months she has been something to me that I thought I would never have and she has cared for me through this all personally." Yzak looked down thinking about all the questions the girl could ask, she had to ask this one and he was compelled to answer.

"Milady Redemption," Yzak spoke beginning, "it is not a name but a title, for it is everything she sought; I believe you know how that is." Meiko nodded and he continued, "She was just a girl during the first war, and she lost everything like so many others, everything she loved was torn from her. The people she loved died and the way she describes it her soul was filled with anger by it all, so much so that when she met John Liene he gave her hope of a new world. I know that must sound twisted to you, but there was a time when Liene genuinely wanted peace, darkness has since twisted his soul. Milady gave her all to ROW and in the end he betrayed her and tore away all that she had left of the past from her. I know that's general but that is how this story must be told. She was known by many names, Rayla Frost being the most common and she turned against ROW but it was too late." He stopped thinking about everything Milady had told him the first time she opened up, all the doubt and guilt and pain that she had gone through.

"Too late for what?" Meiko asked willing him to continue.

"Too late to stop Liene," Yzak responded though he wanted to say too late to save you, but he knew that Milady would rather not give Meiko anyone to blame for what happened for it was out of her hands. Meiko was just one of Liene's projects then and she had to run if she wanted to be alive to stop ROW. If she had not have left that day she would have been killed and ROW would have surely won by now. She justified her abandoning of Meiko by telling herself it was the world or a little girl and with a little patience she could have both. Rayla had hope that Meiko would make it out, and her hope had proved right so therefore the choice in the past had been the right one.

"She created Redemption and abandoned the name," Yzak claimed. Meiko listened intently knowing that she was so much like Milady herself in how she had abandoned ROW but in doing so she had almost had to destroy herself. She believed in this organization of Redemption but Meiko began to doubt she could ever fight under it's banner, she was finally free and she had begun to think through the past few months about fighting alone.

"What about the world outside?" Meiko asked as she felt a sadness fill her thinking about everything again, she wished she could forget it all but it was there, it was the reason she was here now. She had escaped ROW but in doing so she had erased all the hope she had for the future in death and even in that things were twisted and here she was alive. "What I really want to know is did everyone survive?"

"They survived," Yzak responded, "and they split. The Clyne faction left ORB to regroup, but last I heard they are all still alive and standing strong against the many threats that nation faces."

"But I see them in my visions," Meiko replied remembering the darkness, "they are in danger, and they are in pain. There is darkness around them that threatens to close in on them, it's as if they are calling for me to come help them but I don't know what to do Yzak. I am not ready to fight and I have no mobile suit, please just tell me if they are in danger. I must know the truth." He looked at the frantic expression in her eyes and knew he had to tell her the truth, for in her eyes was a depth that he had never seen before and he realized now that the prophecy had indeed been realized and the girl that sat before him was the Phoenix they had been waiting for; Milady had been right once again.

"They are in danger," Yzak replied, "the PLANTs have declared war on ORB, though so far no major battles have been fought, I fear for the country." The words did not surprise Meiko, she turned her head toward the wind as if blew and she looked up toward the sun as she saw her path clearly now. She knew that somehow it would lead her back to ORB, and she would have to fight; for the world and for herself.

* * *

Lacus watched from a window as her eldest daughter and Trey Likra Day worked together on the fine tunings of a machine under the watchful eye of one of the head mechanics. She was becoming a bit concerned about the amount of time that her little girl was spending with that boy. He was once a member of ROW and no matter how much he had changed it was hard for her to think of her daughter and him being close; maybe it was just a situational friendship, they were both young and thrust into the same atmosphere to work so it was natural for them to go about things together. He was also four years older than her, he could hardly see her as anything but a little sister. Lacus calmed her fears turning away to where Kira sat typing away as he worked through the fine tunings of his mobile suit again. She knew he was getting anxious about ORBs situation and his inability to join the fight without a machine.

"Our forces are looking stronger each day," Lacus said trying to start a conversation, "we even had a few new recruits join up with us a few days ago. Andrew Waltfeld says the Eternal is near ready and the base is more fortified than ever."

"And my machine is all that we are waiting on before we go to help ORB," Kira responded with a sigh, "I've never had a problem I couldn't solve when it comes to Operating Systems yet this one keeps plaguing me. It runs, probably better than the Strike Freedom but there are still bugs that I am worried about when it comes to combat."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," Lacus said putting a hand on his shoulder, "you always do."

"It's just figuring it out before the PLANTs make a bigger move than they have," Kira said, "Athrun and Yaro have done well up to now but I believe the PLANTs are holding back on something. They had those three gundams and they might have more. We need to be wary."

"Yaro defeated those easily their first battle," Lacus expressed looking at Kira with concern, "surely they pose no real threat."

"He defeated them the first time, the second and third and fourth he had help and I believe those pilots are improving with him," Kira replied, "Besides the fact that ZAFT could be producing new mobile suits with more power than those three and more super weapons like the ones they have tried to use. They are learning from their mistakes and throwing out new technology at a higher rate than should be possible, it all points to something else. They might be backed by ROW." Kira had thought this through over and over again, he knew what the PLANT military was capable of because he had been in it for quite a long time. Everything they did now just didn't add up; something was different about them and he wanted to know what.

"Everything always points to ROW," Lacus declared as tears filled her eyes, "Why don't they just leave us be?"

* * *

In the past six weeks he had lost no stride in tripling his moves in the world. He was certain that he was throwing things off balance. As the nations of the world turned their eyes to the battle of the PLANTs and ORB they turned away from ROW's advancements, it was the perfect opportunity. The amount of new technology they had discovered in one nation was astounding and in a record three weeks they had put the finishing touches to the next stages of his plan. Before him stood two young pilots, neither of which had a name to him. Both were from the program he had started years ago, their training was considerable and being coordinators with a special touch of his own research they were strong. Together they were a threat the world was already bowing to.

Their mobile suits were the same and their ability to work together was top notch with the help of some new technology. On top of these two twin warriors he had fine tuned the robotic units knowing that they were almost useless in the battle for ORB. But he was John Liene, the more people thought they could stop him the stronger he became.

He turned away from the units to Giligan Manchester.

"Good work," he said and the two began walking through the hangar overseeing everything else that was going on.

"Sir I noticed that you were going to Mars with Mike Shustre, has he returned from the PLANTs?" Giligan asked?

"Yes he has," Liene replied with a dark smile, "and we are going to Mars to check up on some information. All that is left of Meiko's files must be examined and I feel that the events in the PLANTs have taught me a great deal about expecting the unexpected." Giligan wondered what was in Meiko's files that was so important, the girl was dead surely finding a biological weakness at this point was of no use. Understanding Liene was near impossible but Giligan hated being out of the loop on the things that his leader was planning.

"Excuse my questions sir," Giligan began, "but Meiko is dead, what further use could we have with her files? Surely information on her background should be destroyed before anyone finds it."

"Meiko being dead has no bearing on the things that I am speaking of," Liene spoke dryly now as if uninterested in the question, "I am speaking of the studies on the super seed. I hope to search the world for any other I can find with that kind of power, and understanding that power is key. Besides who's to say that ghosts can't exist? We must be prepared for any angle, even though I would be shocked if she did in fact survive that. No one could have, not even her."

"And Mike is going with you because?" Giligan asked.

"I've had a feeling in the back of my mind for awhile," Liene replied, "A feeling that Mike Shustre is a traitor and I intend to get him as far away from this base and the field as possible until I know for sure. We can't be too careful, Meiko was like a daughter to him and my end treatment of her hit him hard, you never know which path someone will take when loosing something they care about." Giligan was not surprised by this, he had always been wary of Mike. There was something about him that was just too different to be a part of ROW. He was never willing to do what was necessary and in the end he was always getting in the way.

No more was said on the subject as they were both deep in thought. No matter how people tried to stop them they always seemed to fail. Liene was more confident than ever, for if even Meiko Virea had failed then there was no one who could stand up to them. In the midst of his confidence when he thought about it hard there was something he could not forget; a prophecy of the Phoenix, a fear that it was Meiko and a fear that everything was not over yet. For fire and ashes had fallen, all that remained was for the fire bird to rise in vengeance for all that was lost. Liene always hoped that the prophecy would point revenge toward another faction but he never counted out the possibility of him being in danger. Backup measures were taken and something no one knew of was about to change. For Liene himself was more powerful than anyone yet knew and he would return to himself very very soon.

* * *

Murrue Ramius sat across from Yaro Yamato, his disposition strange and different than that of the boy that she once knew. She had been given the job of debriefing him on his various encounters with the PLANTs. As she sat there she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable about something, the boy had changed and she knew not what to think about it. Kira and Lacus had been forced to leave him behind when he defied them, something to do with him wanting to fight the way he felt was right. She looked at the reports and the number dead by his hand in the past six weeks. She couldn't help but compare it to the amount who died by his fathers hand before Kira changed his ways in fighting. Kira had learned the value of human life and it seemed that Yaro digressed as he went and human life meant less and less to him the more he fought. The numbers grew and the fear he put into the PLANT warriors grew as well.

"I fought those three gundams in each battle," Yaro said as photos of the three new gundams went by, "the PLANTs seems to be leaning on them. I let them escape the first time and they came back stronger. I haven't been able to find a weakness to destroy them, even with the help of Athrun but scaring them off is easy enough." She nodded at this, his voice wasn't dark as many said it was on the battlefield, he still sounded like the same person he was before when he spoke; it was his eyes that told a different story.

"And what of the PLANT's cannons?" Murrue asked, "we have heard that they have upgraded them on some ships."

"Not much of a thread to the power of the Dreamer," Yaro replied, "I have fought backed by Athrun and Shinn and when I use the Dreamers positron cannon, backed by it's strong power generator I can destroy a ship in one blast. The system of the Dreamer is our weapon against those machines. I have no doubt that if the PLANTs don't pull out something stronger, victory is ours."

"Of course we think that's great Yaro," Murre said, "but what of your fighting tactics, there are some concerns that the PLANTs may stir up propaganda using the number that have been killed on the battlefield. The PLANT council instructed pilots to be a little more wary of this yet you seem to increase the number you kill each time you enter the battlefield." He looked at her, expression unchanged as if he didn't care what it was she was saying.

"I understand Murrue," Yaro responded leaning back, "naturally I know what you are saying, but I also know the number that have been killed from our side on the battlefield. I have discovered that the more I stop the better chances our soldiers have so I try to stop as many as fast as I can. Surely you understand that it is faster to completely destroy a machine than it is to disarm it? The amount of ORB soldiers I have protected with my actions is worth what I have been doing, the way I have been fighting no matter how ruthless it is. And don't forget if they had the chance they would kill, I just decide not to give them that chance." It was something she understood, it was every solider's excuse for fighting and for killing but she didn't like it, she never liked it and she didn't like that Kira's son was the one saying this now.

The changes she saw now in Yaro were terrible, he was becoming a solider more and more everyday. Surely he would have to change his ways soon or he would become the target of every angry PLANT citizen.

"I understand," she responded, "but it still doesn't make it right."

"Did you call me here to do your job or to reprimand me?" Yaro asked with a hint of sadness in his eyes, "because I know when I've done something wrong, and I know that every life I take is wrong. I'm not inhuman, I just am beginning to understand the gravity of our situation; we can fight with our ideals but they aren't going to have the same standards. They kill hundreds of us not caring to preserve life, so I justify it even though I know I shouldn't." Seeing his war eased her mind, the coldness in his eyes hadn't taken over. He was still Yaro, he fought to protect what he believed him even though it still tore him inside.

"I know it's a tough decision for you Yaro," Murre replied as tears filled her own eyes, "but you need to understand that the PLANTs are using this as propaganda, and if they find out that it is you behind it all there will be consequences. I am asking you to be careful." He understood what she said but he also knew how hard it would be, on the battlefield he was a different person. At times he reviewed the things he did and he did not remember them, as if something took him over. It was strange.

"I will try," Yaro said, standing up. She dismissed him thinking more on it, it seemed that something wasn't right despite her reassurances.

* * *

"It's been slow Milady," Yzak said as they both watched from a window as Meiko sat on the grassy lawn below watching nature and doing nothing. In the past few days she had withdrawn from them almost completely. She gave her acknowledgments but never anything more. Milady had know that it would be like this but she wasn't really prepared to handle it. "We made a mistake in bringing her here, if we had kept her in space she would have had little place to hide from us around here. You really need to talk to her."

"I know Yzak," she responded as she watched the wind blow around the girl below who was still very much like a child, especially now since she was in a strange place and feeling very alone. Milady had waited sixteen years for this moment but had never expected it to be so hard, the girl was lost and Milady did not really understand how to reach out to her now. "I know it's my duty, what I have needed to do since she awakened but I can't find words to say Yzak. I know everything she went through and I know that I am partially to blame for it all, because I helped Liene start ROW and when I escaped I didn't save her. It's just every time I see her I feel an overwhelming guilt for the things I did and for the things I didn't do."

"That guilt isn't getting us anywhere," Yzak sighed, "Milady you've faced near defeat, death and all sorts of impossible situations and yet now the thing your afraid of the most is yourself. You're afraid that you will somehow fail again, but how will you know if you don't try? Better to fail than to say that you didn't succeed because you never tried." She understood.

"You're right," MIlady sad walking toward the door, "I must face her." She left Yzak standing there and he nodded knowing that very soon their Phoenix would be given back her driving will.

Milady stepped out into the garden where Meiko sat; the girl was on her knees staring into the sky, her dark red hair fell softly around her. Milady was amazed at how her recovery had been going, the girl seemed to be much stronger now than she had been in the time that she had been with them. Meiko breathed in as she heard Milady approaching.

"The super seed is calming," Meiko said starting a conversation, Milady was glad to hear these words. It was true that the stability of Meiko's super seed was increasing and soon the energy levels would fade to the point that Meiko no longer felt it and it would no longer attack her mind with visions.

"I am glad," Milday said sitting down beside the younger girl, mimicking her stance, "but it is not that I came to speak with you about." Meiko's gaze which had been straight ahead now turned to the masked woman.

"You're Rayla Frost," Meiko expressed, "you were in ROW, you knew Mike; now tell me how you became this? How does someone with nothing just end up with the wealth to create this world? I don't now why you brought me here but I do know that you have to have some reason. People like you just don't exist in this world anymore. Uzumi was the first and last I ever met." Milady heard the girls words, her confusion and she knew that she had chosen this time for a reason.

"Uzumi was an amazing person but his destiny was to help you," Milady said turning away from the girls gaze as tears filled her own eyes and she remembered the sacrifices that were made for Meiko's sake. "Meiko there have been many willing to give their lives for you, because whether or not you really understand it you are special. You were born for a very important reason, and it's so hard for me to express that to you which is one of the reasons why I haven't. There are things you should know and so much I can't even bring myself to say. I was in ROW and like you I made it out but I never forgave myself for leaving without taking you. I vowed to protect you the very first day I laid eyes on you and I failed. Now all these years I have waited for time to rescue you from everything but Liene hid you away, and it took me much longer to find you than I thought. After so many years I wasn't sure what to expect; if you had changed into what Liene wanted you to be or if you had remained as innocent and beautiful as the child I once watched over." Meiko listened to her words surprised by them, she had always heard that she had a nurse who cared for her as a child but she would never have believed this person to still be watching over her.

"I had every chance in the world to live a happy life and I threw it all away," Milady continued with a faraway look on her face, "I had people that cared for me. I lost everything and I didn't even realize what I had until it was gone and now I can't loose you again. You are the Phoenix of prophecy and you will change this world, I know it's confusing now but you have to believe Meiko. You have the strength within your heart and I know now that I see you that you know this."

Meiko felt tears filling her eyes as she heard Milady's words, it was something she never thought she'd have in her life. Someone believed in her and this someone was there for her. Milady wiped tears from her own eyes as she saw the emotions of the girl before her, ROW had lost and Meiko was still human and still held the bright light of love within her. Milady embraced the younger girl comforting her as she began to cry, and letting her know now that things were going to be different. Soon after that Meiko withdrew as was her way, Milady could not ask for anything more. Meiko had opened up for a moment and in that moment Milady knew that she was ready; no matter how she withdrew Meiko's soul was free.

Meiko felt resolve as her emotions faded into hardness once again, for the road she was about to take would be long but she knew now she would be victorious.

* * *

**It took so long to write all this but it's finally here!**

**A full length chapter!  
**

**Please Review, review, review! I want to know what you think about everything!**

**-WinterChill  
**


	34. We Can Face the Dark Together

**Back in the spirit of the story. Next week is my finals week then winter break for three weeks. So keep your eyes open I'm going to try and post a chapter a week again, it may not work but it's worth a try.**

**Phase 32: We Can Face the Dark Together**

* * *

Kiran watched as leaves floated out of the trees toward the ground. He was glad to be back in ORB, safe and sound. The Minerva had been docked there after the battle and he had disembarked. His Aunt had refused to allow him to fight until his parents were contacted but he was fine with that for now. He had been shaken by what he saw Yaro do on the battlefield and he wanted to be sure that before he entered another battlefield he was ready to see it again. Apparently Yaro's antics and fighting were more noticed than anything in the skirmishes between ORB and the PLANTs and no ground was gained or lost. ORB won each fight before the battles really went anywhere because of the Dreamer.

Kiran had tried to speak to Yaro but his older brother did not say much and it troubled him. He wanted to say something to him but he had not gotten the chance. Now it seemed threat levels were decreasing on the borders and much of the main ORB forces had come to the island. The Minerva was back and so was the Tranquility. Kiran had begged his aunt to let him stay in the military base even though he could not fight. It seemed that now the base was reaching an overflow level as many ORB citizens volunteered to help the fighting to protect their home.

Kiran sat on a balcony between two rails overlooking one of the main hangars. He was searching for his brother as the Dreamer had been brought in the night before but there was no sign of Yaro anywhere. He was beginning to get anxious when he saw his older brother walking across the hanger toward his machine. He seemed so much stronger than the last time Kiran had seen him on the battlefield and he seemed to be very confident. These traits were things that Kiran had always admired in Yaro and now he saw that they were much different in a way. He didn't know what to think but he longed to speak to him. He got up to head down the stairs into the bottom of the hangar when Yaro lifted himself into the Dreamer and shut the cockpit, locking himself away from the rest of the world. Kiran sighed as he went back to sitting down. He missed his family badly.

"You okay kid," he turned to see Cerevis walking out of the door that led on the the balcony. He was in an ORB uniform and had apparently begged Meyrin to let him stay aboard the Minerva claiming he believed in ORB. When she refused he had joined the military any way and been assigned to the Minerva because of their fight history. Meyrin was clearly still annoyed but as the battles went on she seemed to soften to the idea. Kiran missed fighting alongside the veteran but he knew that there wasn't much he would be allowed to do until his family returned.

"I'm not a kid," Kiran corrected once again, "though I feel like one now." Cerevis put down the clipboards he was holding and sat down beside the boy. When he said nothing Kiran went on, "I just want to talk to him; we're brothers and he's the only one I have. I just want to speak with him but every time I see him it's brief and with so many people around. I just don't know what to do." Cerevis nodded, he noticed that Yaro had been very distant from the rest of the family of veterans, it was if the boy was trying to avoid their questioning and their teachings. Cerevis identified it as part of the boy growing up but to everyone he knew it was him distancing himself from those who cared about him. It was natural part of life but it hurt those who did not understand it, and Kiran didn't understand.

"Kiran, I believe Yaro is changing a lot right now," Cerevis responded, "he's growing up and he is doing so alone without his father here. It is harder for him to face everyone with all that has happened but I'm sure that in time he will come around. Just give him time to adjust to the way things are now." Kiran sighed at that.

"It's just that he lost Meiko, and when that happened I knew things were going to be different and I was worried about him," Kiran said, "what if not all changes are good? What if this change has been brought on by the deaths that he witnessed and in that case can it really be good? I don't know that it can be. It's hard for me to watch him suffer Cerevis and it's hard for me to be unable to do anything about it. I want to know if I'm only imagining it, but I"m his brother. I can't deny that I see that he is in pain and no one else is recognizing it." Cerevis made note of what he heard now, so Yaro had lost someone. He had suspected as much from the boy's rash attitude but he wasn't sure as no one on the Minerva seemed to speak about the things that had taken place in the fight against ROW.

"Well Kiran," Cerevis tried to reason, "then you are just going to have to approach him. He is your brother and you can't timidly stand by if you want to help him. He's probably hurting more than he is letting on and he is giving the cold shoulder to avoid thinking about it."

"You're probably right," Kiran said brightening up, "I just have to approach him."

"That's the spirit Kiran," Cerevis said and Kiran noticed that Cerevis had finally stopped calling him kid. Cerevis then excused himself as Kiran seemed better but he knew that everything he had heard was not to be ignored. Yaro was bottling things up and letting anger control him, someone needed to speak to him about it and Cerevis knew the best person to do this was his father but Kira Yamato was away so the next best person had to be his uncle. Athrun Zala. Someone needed to straighten Yaro out before he tore himself apart with his own darkness.

* * *

Fredrick Turnal stood before his council, the events in ORB seemed to be escalating and the nation had recalled it's forces to the homeland. Turnal had no doubt that the PLANTs had withdrawn their attacks for a reason, they were trying to amass their forces to attack the mainland. His own officers had called a meeting with him at this time to discuss the events and he had concluded that it would be better to remain on the outside of them. This situation was too ugly, if the PLANTs and the NEA started fighting it would become the third bloody valentine war and it had the potential to be worse than ever. It seemed many of his officers agreed with him on this while two called for him to join the PLANT's side, something he could not do.

Their reasoning was that the Dreamer, ORB's new machine, was a monstrosity and that that type of power should not be in the hands of whoever was in charge of it. The Dreamer was always backed up by another strong machine and with backup it's cannon was a deadly weapon that had destroyed many PLANT ships. It's weakness seemed to be that it had to recharge to fire again and the recharge time seemed to take a few hours. On top of that there were amassing rumors that the pilot of the Dreamer was Kira and Lacus's son, Yaro Yamato; this would further anger PLANT citizens because Yaro was a coordinator and the way they saw it he was once one of their own. Turnal believed the rumors about it being Yaro Yamato as he knew that the anger of a young fighter was one of the most deadly weapons on the battlefield. He had seen it used countless times when he was younger during the great wars. These emotional pilots fought without fear, only with anger and it was something that saddened Turnal. He had no doubt that if Yaro was the one fighting he was doing so of his own accord and that his family was completely against it because Lacus was not one to just let her children fight the way he did.

With this in mind Turnal dismissed fears about the Dreamer knowing that ORB would not have used such a weapon if they were not being so unjustly attacked. The PLANTs had no reason to attack ORB any more, the Clyne faction had left ORB territory and the PLANT"s persistence in these actions was alarming to him. He disliked Jayley Lired and he knew that there was something just wrong about her. He had already even started an investigation on the two officers who had talked of siding with the PLANTs. These were dangerous times and loyalties were not what they used to be, one could never be too careful with the people they trusted.

Overall the NEA had decided to stay out of the conflict. ROW was once again gathering strength on their borders and in this time of trouble Turnal found it hard to keep order in the countries under NEA control. There were things going on that were beyond him and rumors of a nameless fear spread like wildfire. It seemed the faction Redemption had appeared again in several ROW attacked nations and many people feared what they would do. No one knew their motives. One of Turnal's trusted advisers had visited a nation in secret and there he had met a man who had said that Redemption's time was drawing near. The man had told his adviser that a Phoenix was about to rise for ORB and that ORB would be saved by the girl of flames. Something about this troubled him even though his advisers said it sounded ludicrous; he couldn't help but shiver at the thought of the legendary fire bird.

For whenever a Phoenix appeared ashes followed in is wake. He feared that things were drawing to another climax and that this time many more lives would be lost. He prayed that somehow it could be prevented.

* * *

"In a recent news update ZAFT forces continue to place pressure on the nation of ORB," the newscaster continued with her evaluation of what was going on in the world, "news on the recent war is that the two nations are locked in a stalemate. Neither of the two sides have show any sign of wavering in this decision and it seems that this conflict will not be resolved quickly." What did she know of everything. "PLANT chairwoman Jayley Lired has these words to say on the subject." The screen then changed to Jayley standing before the press in all her smug glory.

"We do not wish for this conflict to escalate any further," Jayley said, "but the plain truth is that ORB has allied itself with our enemies and is unwilling to give up their location. I wish for this to end! I am not asking for the nation to surrender themselves or to give up any of their rights, only to help us capture out fugitives!"

"Such a liar," Jeffery said turning off the TV. He was with Alicesia and Nessara in the Attha mansion, they had come to visit. Alicesia was looking for Kiran but he was nowhere about. Jeffery had explained to her that he spent nearly all his time at the base. He was anxious about his family and a little annoyed with people around him for not trusting him but he was getting over it. He had joined Jeffery in mobile suit training and had accelerated past his cousin in the past six weeks. Jeffery knew it was because of the elusive seed that everyone seemed to keep hushed up. He heard his parents talking about it but he didn't really understand it.

"Why don't people realize what it is that she is doing?" Nessara asked, "I mean they are mobilizing massive military effort in an attempt to not hurt ORB but convince us to give her information? It doesn't make any sense why anyone would follow someone like that! I don't understand." Alicesia sighed at this, Jayley's deception was beginning to go too far, she was blaming ORB more than every for everything. After all the nation went through against ROW this was not justified in any way.

"The Clyne faction helped ORB when no one else would," Alicesia said angrily, "because of them we were saved! The world is so blind that they can't see that we can't turn in the people who helped us!"

"The truth us the Clyne faction did help us," Jeffery said affirming Aliceisa's statements, "they helped us stand and we probably wouldn't be as strong now without them but it wasn't the Clyne faction that saved us." They all knew what he alluded to now and it made them all sad. If it had not had been the way it was. If Meiko had not betrayed ROW from within then they would not all be sitting there today but then at that moment Alicesia realized something.

"No it wasn't just her though," Alicesia said, "it was the combination of the three. Yaro, Uzumi and Meiko. For two were sacrificed but one lived and that one was from the Clyne faction; he drove the others on and they saved us. Meiko was saved by ORB so she saved the Clyne faction and in part saved us." Hearing of his brother hurt but he knew that what Alicesia said was right. It was the combination of powers that had made the difference in the end and he knew the combining of powers would continue to make a difference in the future. He just hoped that whatever that future was there would be some people somewhere as brave as Meiko and Uzumi; people brave enough to sacrifice themselves for those that they loved and without fear enter the unknown.

* * *

It was getting closer to being done. Jayley smirked as she watched the forces gathering. The launching would begin soon. Gera was at her side and there were a few PLANT leaders down int he hangar inspecting the troops; today was a day that would go down in history. This force had been a long time in the making and preparing.

"You think it's over?" Jayley's happiness faded when she heard that voice, he was here and he was not supposed to be. She turned to see John Liene standing in the center of the room. Mike had informed her that they were departing for Mars soon but it seemed that had not happened yet. Gera hissed at the sight of him; the girl had always hated him for choosing Meiko over her out of all the children in the program he had started. Jayley felt a bit odd at the sight of him now; he should be at his lowest point yet the twisted smile on his face suggested otherwise. Had there been something she had missed? She was pretty high up in ROW and she knew that his plans heavily leaned on Meiko and now that she was gone what did he have that made him so happy?

"Liene you are bold in coming here," Jayley said trying to display confidence, "a little too bold. You'll find I have this place well guarded." Liene turned his head back a little and she saw then in the shadows two dead bodies on the floor. Her guards.

"You mean those guards?" Liene asked, his twisted smile growing as he did. It was then that a boy walked from the shadows and stood behind him. The boy looked to be about fifteen, he was young and very childish in a way. Something about him made Jayley think that perhaps that boy was new to ROW but his assassins uniform made it clear that Liene was not playing games right now. Surely he would not murder her here.

"What do you want Liene," Jayley said motioning for Gera to stand down, the best thing to do in this situation was to oblige and hear him out.

"I am hear to gloat Jayley," Liene replied with a laugh, "because of all the things you could have chosen to do you chose to attack ORB when they are at their strongest. Nice work." Jayley's anger heightened at this.

"We have done well for ourselves," Jayley responded, "right now that country has no idea what is stirring up here! They expect attacks as weak as the last ones but we are about to unleash fire upon their heads! Surely not even someone as arrogant as you can say I failed in this one." Liene only laughed again unnerving her. What was it that he knew that she didn't?

"So you really think Gera is going to defeat the Dreamer?" Liene said as it it was a joke. Jayley had no doubt in her mind that Gera could do it; Gera was the strongest of the children that Liene had ignored and Jayley's father had seen to it that Gera had been trained expertly. The girl was a natural born killer without the flaws that plagued Meiko Virea and gave her doubts. No, Gera questioned no one and she had more mobile suit experience than she needed to fight.

"I don't think I know!" Jayley replied.

"Think again," Liene responded taking a few steps forward, "what if I told you that the pilot of the Dreamer was Yaro Yamato?" Jayley was taken off guard by him saying this even though she suspected as much in the past.

"I suspected that," Jayley replied.

"Then you realize who Yaro really is don't you?" Liene said his eyes digging deep into her. She didn't understand him, sure Yaro was the adopted son of Kira Yamato and a coordinator with seed abilities. He was nothing more than that. He had the constant backup of those that cared about him on the battlefield and with their attentions divided he would be an easy target for Gera to destroy. Liene wouldn't say something like this unless there was something more to Yaro Yamato. The boy's anger was clear in his fighting styles it was almost too ornate and perfect to describe.

"He is gifted," Jayley observed, "and very angry but surely he is nothing more than that. The boy is not even really a Yamato, and he does not posses the super seed like Meiko did, nor the berserker abilities of Gera. He will be easy to defeat once I let Gera go." Liene laughed even more at this.

"You think Yaro is nothing more than a mere coordinator?" Liene asked still laughing, "I admit it took me awhile to put everything together but Yaro's abilities to use anger are inherent and almost too perfect for words. He had beaten back whatever you have sent at him, with some aid but a majority of it he has done alone. Do you not see Jayley, there is so much more to this boy. He was placed in an orphanage around the same time as the shift of the world; the Destiny plan, everything that took place then." In that moment Jayley realized what it was Liene meant and her heart lept inside of her, for it was something that should not be. She took a step back at this but still stood in her resolve. No matter who he was Yaro was still not as powerful as Meiko and therefore no match for Gera.

"No matter his past Yaro is not ready for this," Jayley said as Gera nodded, "Gera has surpassed him; he as only been fighting since we kicked Lacus out. I believe that he will be easily defeated." Liene laughed again.

"We will see," was all he said before he disappeared; nothing more than a hologram transmission. The boy however remained and before Jayley could shout for more guards the boy disappeared into the shadows; gone away.

* * *

Kiran ducked under the railing and ran across the room the moment his brother appeared from the machine. He had waited long enough, he wanted to see Yaro, the past six weeks had been fearful and finally he could ask his brother how things were and what was going on.

"Yaro!" He yelled and his older brother turned around at the sight of Kiran he had a face of surprised. He had expected Kiran to be kept safe in the Attha mansion, but no he was here in the military base. This would be the first place the PLANTs would target if there was an attack staged here. Anger filled him at that, his little brother needed to be kept safe, not allowed to wander around as if there was no danger anywhere.

"Kiran what are you doing here?" Yaro asked clenching a fist. His anger softened at the sight of his brothers smile. He had forgotten how hard it must have been for Kiran to watch him go into battle and wait for news. He felt a little bad that he hadn't been considerate at all about how alone Kiran probably felt in this strange place. He couldn't blame the boy for being here but he could blame his aunt and uncle for not keeping a better eye on him. He decided to cool off in this situation and reassure his brother that everything was okay and that it was going to remain that way. Yaro did miss his family and having Kiran was having part of them here.

"I wanted to be here," Kiran responded, "I would not stop bothering uncle Athrun until he let me come stay here. I am the pilot of the Courage after all and if we were attacked…"

"You would not be fighting," Yaro replied with a hint of annoyance, he wanted to be patient with Kiran but he was not going to let his little brother be put in danger again. He was not going to loose him the way he lost Uzumi and Meiko and so many others.

"But Yaro I already have," Kiran said, "you can't control my actions, I've been training these past weeks and I have been getting better and better. It's part of who I am, I mean even father learned everything quickly. " Yaro knew that if they didn't change the subject that he would end up getting angry so he tried to think of something to change it to but he couldn't. He could only think of how he needed to protect Kiran at this moment and keep him off the battlefield.

"Kiran you can not fight out there, you don't know how father and mother would respond," Yaro reasoned, "Because believe me they didn't respond well to me fighting down here and without me ORB would be in trouble." Kiran was mad now, how could Yaro perceive himself as so important when it was Kiran who had laid his life on the line to protect the Minerva. Kiran had done plenty of things already and he did not need Yaro's approval before going into the battlefield, only his uncle Athruns. Kiran was ready for this and Yaro couldn't see that because he had never seen Kiran fight.

"You think you're so special!" Kiran declared now, "you only have helped ORB because you're a cool blooded killer while I was able to protect the Minerva without taking lives! I've learned how to fight in a way that protects the world not destroys them!" Kiran couldn't stand it anymore, everyone thought that he wasn't ready to fight when he had clearly proven otherwise. Now he had done it, Yaro was angry.

"You have no idea what you are talking about Kiran!" Yaro yelled, "you're nothing but a child who doesn't understand! You don't know what it's like to watch the people you care about fall apart on the battlefield and to be there but not have enough power to save them! But now I have that power and heaven curse me if I don't use it! And you, you're innocent of the battlefield! It's no place for people like you."

"But I've fought already!" Kiran reasoned sharply, "I may not have made mistakes that cost people their lives but I've fought enough to know what it's like to fail and what it's like to be near death but you Yaro don't understand! You're not justified in killing! You can't fight that way anymore!" Kiran had seen too many things he never thought possible and it had hurt these weeks to watch tapes of his brother destroy without hesitation. Yaro was becoming everything that they were fighting and Kiran knew that it was hurting him to watch and if it was hurting him it was hurting everyone else. In that case why was no one doing anything about it? Why was no one trying to stop him.

"That's enough Kiran," Yaro said grabbing Kiran's arms as they flew toward him and in that moment Kiran saw darkness in Yaro's eyes and he felt fear from that darkness.

In that moment Shinn Auska happened to be walking by. What he saw Yaro grabbing Kiran roughly and Kiran afraid. Yaro was much stronger than the small Kiran who was still just a 14 year old boy and Yaro could really hurt him if he wanted to. The way it looked now it looked like Yaro wanted to. Shinn had seen so much of Yaro's darkness on the battlefield, he had tried talking to him but Yaro never responded. Shinn now looked at the two boys and justice rose in him; Yaro was getting out of control and if no one took the time to set him right he would soon be the enemy they were fighting.

Acting impulsively, Shinn rushed forward and sent his fist flying into Yaro's jaw. He caught Yaro of gaurd and the boy went flying toward the ground. Kiran shrunk back at what had just happened. Yaro was not his brother anymore, he was someone different. Something so wrong. Yaro jumped back up but Shinn easily dogged his fist and send him flying again.

"You're out of control Yaro!" Shinn said roughly to him, "Stop it right now!" At that moment Athrun entered the room having just spoken to Cerevis and in the mindset to find Yaro and speak to him. He was surprised at what he saw, Shinn was defending Kiran from his own brother. It was exactly as they had all feared. Things that should never be taking place were happening there.

"Commander Auska!" Athrun declared catching them all off guard, "What is the meaning of this?"

"Yaro attacked Kiran," Shinn responded and Yaro looked angry. Athrun looked at the boy who was fuming but was making no moves in front of his uncle.

"Yaro?" Athrun asked. Yaro turned away as he thought of how everything had actually started. He had been happy to see his brother but when he had gotten protective Kiran hadn't responded well. He should have known that his little brother would be stubborn; it kinda ran in the family. Now he was in trouble for disorderly behavior.

"Kiran shouldn't be fighting!" Yaro declared, "he's not ready! And I didn't attack him, I'm just trying to convince him not to fight!" Athrun raised his eyebrows at this, so it all started with Yaro's protective side. Yaro should have realized that Athrun had the situation under control.

"So you behaved roughly to him?" Athrun asked and Yaro nodded. Athrun sighed and continued on, "but had you stopped to think you would have realized that there is a reason Kiran hasn't fought yet. He is not allowed access to mobile suits because he won't be allowed on the battlefield until we can contact your parents. Does that satisfy you?" Yaro was about to respond when Athrun cut him off "But you didn't think about these things, you just acted. The problem with you lately Yaro is that you haven't been thinking before acting, you've just been acting. You'd find if you stop to think more often situations like this could be avoided." Athrun then turned to Kiran.

"I'm sorry Uncle Athrun," Kiran said looking away ashamed, "it's partially my fault."

"I know Kiran," Athrun replied, "but you're able to admit that, which shows something of your maturity. You're alright but you're coming back to the Attha mansion from today on; it's for your own good and I don't what you fighting me on this."

"Yes sir," Kiran said nodding. He was ashamed of how he had acted, he looked toward Yaro; the older boy didn't seem sorry at all.

"And you Yaro," Athrun said turning to the older boy; as a part of the military Yaro was subject to any punishment his general chose and at this moment Athrun had to act as general. Things could not be allowed to continue in the way that they had up to this point. "You Yaro will be grounded until further notice, no more fighting in the Dreamer until I decided when you can." Yaro was about to say something when Athrun cut him off "and you will report to my office at exactly this time tomorrow. Any later and you will be placed in solitary confinement for three days." Yaro was resentful at this moment, if his uncle didn't have military authority over him he could defy him but at this moment he could say nothing but to affirm his understanding of the statements.

"Yes sir," Yaro responded.

"Now that we have that straightened out," Athrun said putting a hand on Kiran's shoulder, "you're coming home." Athrun then turned and left with Kiran; he would deal with Yaro later right now he had to take care of the younger of the two. Kiran would be doing better if he was with his aunt and cousin but Yaro on the other hand needed some serious taking care of.

In KIra's absence Athrun knew he was responsible to take care of these boys as if they were his own and right now discipline was important.

Yaro was about to return to his room when Shinn spoke up.

"Keep in mind Yaro you got off easy," Shinn said, "if I was dealing out the punishments you would be a week in solitary confinement off the bat. You need to cool off and grow up." Yaro didn't say anything he only turned away as something inside him became sorrowful. These were the people he fought alongside and now he had lost their trust through his own actions but they didn't understand the darkness he felt now. They didn't understand that he was not like them.

* * *

Yzak walked into the main hangar where it was common to find Milady overseeing the the testing of a new mobile suit model or welcoming new recruits and things like that. She was a very hands on leader and she put a great effort into being a part of every process. Today he wished he had come with good news because she seemed pleased with the way things were going around the base, but alas there was bad news. When Yzak had chosen to leave ZAFT he had not left without some power and assurance, this power lay within people who were completely loyal to him. He had spies in the PLANTs and in the Clyne faction that reported to him any significant developments and this time things were very significant.

"Milady," Yzak said when he finally caught up with her. She turned to him with a smile on her face, clearly pleased with how things were going. He accounted this to the recent developments with Meiko; Milady had been happy to see the girl now, it seemed things had moved forward. Meiko however had retreated into herself was was natural for her and she didn't say much but she was very courteous. He was glad to see things progressing in that area especially in light of the news he had to give Milady.

"What is it Yzak?" she asked, her smile didn't fade even at his distressed look. What could he have to say that could ruin her wonderful day? Things were going so well and she intended to keep them that way no matter what.

"I've a report from one of my spies in the PLANTs," Yzak began urgently, "Milady things are progressing too fast! The PLANTs are preparing to attack ORB full on, you know they've held back up too now. ORB is going to need our help and we have to mobilize immediately." Milady's smile faded as she thought of how quickly things had progressed. This was very bad news. If things in the PLANTs had sped up then surely ROW was one step ahead of them all she she was lagging behind still trying to get Meiko to choose to fight. No matter Yzak was right in this situation. They had to mobilize or risk loosing everything they had been trying to protect.

"Corporal," Milady yelled and a man came running toward them.

"Yes Milady," The man said with a salute.

"Sound the High alarm," Milady said with a smirk on her face, "we're mobilizing for ORB!" The man saluted her again and ran off to sound the alarm.

"How quickly?" Yzak asked her, knowing that she understood they had a limited time clock.

"The council will assemble to vote on it," Milady replied with a smile, "but you know how they will vote. While that is taking place the ships will begin supplying. I have no doubt that we can be ready in two or three days to launch. The only thing that I am worried about is our Phoenix." Yzak understood this, for everything they had planned depended on the red haired little girl who still had shown no signs of making any decisions.

* * *

Cagalli sat on her computer browsing some old files and thinking of the old days. Sometimes in quiet moments like these she would look at old family photos and imagine what her son would do if he was there with them. It was very hard for her to think on these things but she knew the best way to keep him with her was to refresh the memories she had of him for memories were all she had left. On days like these she often found herself slipping away into her memories, it was a beautiful place but not not today. Today things were different, something was stirring in her heart and she knew that something was about to happen no matter what people around her said something was stirring in the deep of the world. Something that no one would expect.

In this moment she sat there her screen suddenly changed, went black and someone appeared before her.

"Greetings Lady Cagalli," the woman who spoke wore a white mask and had dark red hair that she kept short. Something about this woman seemed familiar but Cagalli couldn't tell what with the mask she wore.

"Who are you?" Cagalli asked, taken aback by what was happening, how could someone just access her computer?

"My name is Milady Redemption," the woman said with a confident tone of voice, "I am the founder and leader of the organization known as Redemption, the same one that saved your brother from ORB awhile back." Cagalli's eyes widened at this, not only was this the organization that had saved Kira but they knew about her connection with him. What else was it that they knew about Kira?

"What is it you want," Cagalli now answered with authority. It was as if the world shook now, for the meeting of these two had long been awaited. Any alliance made here might become the turning point of the world. Both of them felt the gravity of the situation but neither of them knew how crucial this moment really was. The joining of the two factions could tip the scale on the world and once again give power back to those who desire light and peace.

"I have worked for years on a way to contact you," Milady replied taping her fingers on her chair, "and now the time has finally come. You need to be strong in the coming battle for our spies have reported that the PLANTs are amassing a larger force than we thought possible. The army that they are preparing now is something that we didn't see coming. You need to understand that power of the Dreamer and the Truth alone won't be enough to hold back what is coming. I am telling you this because you need to mobilize everything you have, enough to hold them off for a time." Cagalli was shocked by what she was hearing, she had not expect anything more to happen in the PLANT war this soon, or this powerful.

"Hold them off?" Cagalli question thinking about it, "we have to defeat them! We have to stop them!"

"And you can't do that alone!" Milady exclaimed urgently, "I've sent word to the Clyne faction as well, Kira will return to the battlefield, somehow he has to but I don't know if he'll make it in time so you need to listen carefully. Hold them off and I promise you help will come but that won't end the war. The coming battle will be crucial enough to stop them for now but after that we need to expose Jayley for the liar she is, and to do that we need to attack ROW on their own front."

"This is too much," Cagalli responded holding her hands up, "I can't think about defending my country from the PLANTs and stopping ROW at the same time!" Milady nodded at this.

"And you don't have to," She was determined now to get this across to Cagalli, "for Redemption will stop ROW; just take care of ORB like I know you willl. Now is the time mobilize!" To this Cagalli nodded.

"The PLANT army will be met by the power of ORB!" Cagalli said with determination now.

"And the World will shake."

* * *

"So the important thing is that we get you down there, regardless of your situation now," Lacus said as her and Kira walked down the halls of the Clyne faction base together. Lacus had just received a coded message from Milady explaining that there was a large force attacking ORB and Kira needed to get to earth. Lacus had shown the message to Kira and the two had immediately called for the council of the Clyne Faction to be assembled. They had to take some action but Kira's mobile suit was not ready. In Lacus's mind she knew what their plan of action had to be, even though Kira would be uncomfortable with it.

"But Lacus…" He begin to which she suddenly stopped walking, he turned to look her in the eye and she gave him a reassuring smile.

"I know it's hard now," she said wrapping her arms around him, "but I know everything is going to be alright. We just need to get you down there." He held her close knowing that she believed in him, but was that enough.

"But…" she silenced him again.

"You don't need the new mobile suit to make a difference," Lacus replied, "Athrun still has the Justice, no one is using it. You can use that machine until yours is complete, it's still advanced and you're strong enough to make a difference in any machine." To this he laughed, he had never considered the Justice as an option and he wasn't sure that he agreed with her on her last statement.

"Well Lacus," he said beginning differently this time, "I'm not sure you're right about any machine, but I agree that the Justice will work for now." She smiled at this, it was good to hear him laugh again, it seemed so long since he had. The world was in such pain now, she prayed that moments like this would remain with them always, moments where they could laugh and smile and enjoy being with each other like they always had.

* * *

Athrun didn't want to deal with this right now. ORB was amassing it's defenses under the orders of Cagalli and there was so much to do but Yaro had shown up as commanded to and now he sat resentful before Athrun. This made Athrun wonder what Kira would do in this situation, his friend didn't really have as much of a temper as he did but even Kira had his limits on occasion. Athrun had seen Kira on edge in the past few months of fighting but it was very rare to see the docile pilot in the midst of anger. And now Athrun would have to discipline his son or at least set the boy straight. If Yaro were killed in battle it would be devastating and that was where his temper was taking him.

"Listen I know you don't want to be here," Athrun began, "in fact I don't really want to be in this position. I wish your father was here but he is not." Yaro didn't say anything so Athrun continued, "have you ever heard the stories of the old wars," and Yaro nodded to this, "stories that your parents no doubt told you many times to prevent you from making the same mistakes as them." This made Yaro stop and think, no he had never really been told the stories by his parents bur rather by others.

"No," Yaro spoke up, "my father spoke very little of them and my mother never spoke of them at all. I heard many of them through others, eyewitnesses and people within our circle of friends." This surprised Athrun, he had made sure his children heard everything from him about what he had done. He wanted them to know his mistakes so that they wouldnt' make them. He strongly believed that telling them the truth about all that he had been involved in was the best way. His sons knew everything and they both were better people than he was because they took it to heart. Athrun wondered about Kira and why he hadn't done the same thing but then he remembered how sensitive Kira had always been about everything. It had taken Kira a lot to forgive himself for all the things he had done on the battlefield and it had taken more for him to be able to move past them. Then there was everything with him being the Ultimate Coordinator; he had only told a very few people about that, his children probably had no idea the dark legacy behind it all.

"Well then you have heard about how me and your father both lost control on the battlefield?" Athrun asked.

"You mean when you almost killed each other?" Yaro asked, "I have heard about it."

"That was one time," Athrun sighed thinking about it, "it happened many other times but that was the significant time. We lost a lot in those battles; people we cared about were killed. I lost a friend then Kira lost a friend. the cycle of death and revenge, hatred and anger. It explains why we are the way we are." Yaro nodded, the stories of the past did explain a lot.

"I understand," Yaro replied.

"No you don't Yaro," Athrun said thinking about it, "I was driven mad with anger when it happened; all I could see now was that he was my enemy, someone that needed to be destroyed. I know the darkness that has been driving you because I have felt it so many times; you can't tell me I don't understand because out of everyone you know I am one of the people who does. For I have done so many things I regret and you will find that the place of regret is where you become hollow and alone. It is by the grace of those who were around me that I came to my senses. You need to realize the path you are on is one that will lead you to a lot of pain and you need to find a way to control the anger inside of you." Yaro seemed to soften a bit at Athrun's words, perhaps he was getting through to the boy.

"But it's not just anger," Yaro replied with a puzzled look, "It's hate. I hate what everyone has done to this world and to us. They've torn away things that I love and I tried to save so many but couldn't." Athrun understood this, the worst feeling in the world was being unable to save someone you love. Athrun felt this most recently when he lost Uzumi; it was very hard not to blame himself for there might have been a way, but placing the blame on himself would only weaken him till he would be unable to fight to protect those that were left.

"Sometimes all you can do is try, Yaro," Athrun glanced down as he thought of the past, "try and try but when someone is gone they are gone. The important thing is that you realize that they wouldn't have wanted you to wallow in regret, they would have wanted you to move forward and be the person you were before or to grow into a better person. It's hard, very very hard and I wouldn't have made it in the past without the people around me, people like Cagalli and your parents who were always there to set me right. Now Yaro, we are here ready to help you every step of the way, you are not alone in this. Let me help you." Athrun saw in Yaro's eyes the boy fighting back the pain. "Let any emotions out Yaro, It's okay to let your emotions show every once in awhile. It's when you hold it in that you also find yourself in darkness. Most men may not like anyone to see them cry but we can feel as well and occasionally it comes to that."

"But I've lost all my tears," Yaro responded thinking over everything, "there's no reason, no meaning to this, it's just hatred. I've tried so many times to figure out what it is that drives me now, but I don't know." Athrun knew at this moment that this had not all been for nothing, for Yaro was trying to keep himself, and all he needed was help. He needed his father now, for his father was the only one left of those who could really help Yaro now. Meiko was gone and Uzumi was gone.

"But you're not alone," Athrun said a little bit more commandingly, "and if you ever feel like you are I want you to remember this, you have people around you who care about you and who care about the choices you make. We would lay down our lives for you because we care. You're a part of our lives and our family and all the suffering you feel we feel as well. The hurts you have buried have caused hurt to remain in this family, it's why Kiran feels he needs to fight because you are. It's why Leyas cries because inside you are, it's why Kayla fears the darkness because you do as well. Your actions directly affect those you love whether you realize it or not. Promise me you won't try and face it alone and I understand why you wanted to fight for ORB, because you didn't like seeing how your own actions affected everyone. It was easier for you to face the dark without seeing them hurt by it." Yaro had no idea how much it had really caused. In that moment he felt better than he had in a long time, hearing his uncle's words reminded him who he was and though he felt the dark it could never take him completely because of those around him.

"I just wish there was some way to make my father understand," Yaro replied thinking about how Athrun had seen everything very clearly. When Yaro was in pain everyone in his family had suffered from it and it in turn had scared him enough to where he believed it would be better for them at this time if they were all separated. He was partially being rebellious because he believed they all should stay in ORB but as time went on he began to see that it would be better if for now he was on his own in everything. He had to find out his purpose and though he still had not found it he felt better hearing that someone understood the pain he was in.

"He understands more than you know," Athrun remembered Kira's expression as he was pained in not knowing what to do about Yaro, "and he want's to help you, but you never let him but that was because you didn't want to really let anyone know everything. We saw it Yaro, all of us knew that the moment Meiko took her own life that you would be affected by it, no matter how you tried to hide."

"I've faced it," Yaro said, "i've come to terms with everything that happened even though that was hard it was something I knew I had to do. I guess I just haven't faced the other things, the dark that now affects this world but I will continue to fight it with everything that is in me."

"And you won't be alone in that fight."

* * *

She stood before the hangar where it was all happening. Warships were being armored and supplied, people were bustling about as if something was about to happen and she had seen it all before so many times. Meiko Virea knew the sights around her; Redemption was preparing to go to war and the battle they were preparing for was surely no small one. She also knew that behind the hangar in front of her also lay one of the most amazing sights she had ever seen in a machine. Milady had a Gundam that was more powerful that she even understood. She felt it's power no radiating as she stood there even though she couldn't see it she knew that it was there.

If Redemption was preparing to enter the battlefield something was surely wrong, so very wrong. She couldn't imagine what it was but she knew that she feared what it could be. Milady had not come to her and spoken to her about it like she expected. She had been here in Redemption and yet no one had asked for her help. If they were going to a battlefield she knew that her powers were valuable. She should have expected that they would not want to lean on her.

With boldness she entered the hangar turning her head about till she spotted the woman in charge with Yzak and a few other high officials in Redemption. They seemed to be deep in discussion about something, she then turned about searching for the power that she felt so strongly in her being, there was something here and she had to find it and she had to understand it. She turned again until she faced it, there in the distance and darkness through another door it called her. She walked forward as if enchanted by it, ignoring the many stares she got from the people around her. She was used to their staring by now, it was as if she was some amazing piece of art to them. She felt the power growing as she walked toward the doorway.

Milady felt Yzak's hand on her arm and when she looked at him he gestured to something behind her, to this she turned to see Meiko walking toward it; their hope. She felt her breath catch in her throat, it was not yet time for this; there was so much to do and she couldn't deal with this now.

"She's awakening more and more everyday," Yzak whispered, "if not now when?" Milady shook her head and turned back to him.

"Soon," she said simply walking away from her group; following the girl with the flaming red hair. The girl with the eyes that could cut the heart of thousands with a single glance. Something was changing and Milady knew it but she also knew that they were not ready for this step, not now but very soon, for everything was nearly done but not complete.

As Meiko entered the room she stared up in awe at the giant machine before her; it's coloring still as beautiful than ever. It's frame was the very essence of strength and power and beauty all at once. She felt as if she belonged here for some reason, with this machine before her, beside her to fight together as one. She felt as though this machine reflected a part of her that she had always bee missing. Who was it meant for if not for her? Redemption could pretend that they didn't want her but they had to, she was more powerful than they realized and she knew that the power of this machine must have been built to work with the power she had built inside herself for her entire life.

She stepped closer feeling more and more captivated by the power she felt, and as she stared at it something suddenly hit her like a memory.

_They were all around her, people were all around her and she could not see any of them for there before her was a woman who reminded her of someone she must have known. Meiko reached out to this woman and she turned and walked away as if not even seeing the girl who reached for her. Meiko tried to move but she found herself turning around to face darkness and in the midst of it she saw Yaro. He turned to her now too and reached out for her. She reached back trying to make it to him but he was just out of reach. Neither of them could move, they stood with their hands to one another. He looked so different, so burdened as if something was troubling him inside. She tried harder to reach for him but she knew she wouldn't be able to. Then she heard a voice saying her name over and over and before her the image of Yaro began to fade. She cried out for him._

As the vision faded she found herself collapsing toward the ground into the arms of the one who said her name over and over. She found tears in her eyes as she looked up to the face of Milady, her mask blocking Meiko from seeing her face. The older woman held the girl in her arms as if she was a child and told her over and over that it was alright.

Meiko looked up again at the mobile suit as it mocked her, a glowing light appeared around it for a second and faded.

"What is it?" Meiko asked Milady and Milady looked at her in sadness.

"It is you Meiko," Milady replied looking toward it herself, "it was made for you. It is Redemption's Phoenix, the main reactor was found in the mountains of Eurasia, activated only by you and your super seed. We've made sure it was perfect for you." Meiko looked at it in shock, it was connected to her somehow a part of her. How could it really be?

Her mind turned again to Yaro; he was in darkness and she had to save him, she felt this burning inside of her soul. She wanted to stop it from happening again, all the darkness. She was tired of this, of being what everything around her wanted her to be. She had discovered herself and it was if everything wanted to take it away from her; well it wasn't going to happen. She had been through too much to be forced into something again. She looked at Milady and Milady let go of her recognizing the look in her eyes. This was what she had wanted to avoid. Meiko stood up and took two steps back and Milady stood up as well. The accusation in Meiko's eyes was clear, she didn't want it again.

"You've been planning this," Meiko accused with anger in her eyes, "you're just like them! You just want me to fight for you like ROW!" Milady knew that this setback was one they had to avoid, yet the situation looked bad; Milady had made her a mobile suit before Meiko eve got there. The implication was clear.

"It's not what you think Meiko!" Milady declared stepping forward by Meiko only stepped back more. Now Yzak entered the room and he saw what was happening.

"All I want to do is to be free," Meiko spat back, "You just want to use me! You're no different than he was! How could you!" Milady felt anger in her now, to be compared to Liene was hard but she had to control herself. She knew it was natural for Meiko to fell like she was being used, because that was all she ever had her entire life. Everyone used her and Milady knew that despite what she tried to tell herself she was using Meiko as well, though she had Meiko's best interests in mind when she did. That was the difference, if only the little girl could understand this.

"No Meiko," Milady said stepping foward again but stopping as once again the girl backed away, "I am not like him! You could never understand the demons that I faced, you could never understand why it is that I have done what I have done but you have to try." Yzak didn't know what to say as the dynamic between the two became hostile in a way but somehow something told him to stay out of it. These two needed to reconcile themselves to the truth, he only hoped that Milady had what it took to speak the truth.

"You know nothing!" Meiko yelled at her now, "you don't know what happened to me! How am I supposed to trust you? You brought me here and told me that I did not have to fight yet you built a mobile suit for me so that I would fight for you! You've been manipulating me just like everyone else!"

"Just listen to me!" Milady shouted with authority taking over her being. She reached her hands to her head and tore off the mask that hid her face from the world and for the first time Meiko could see clearly into her eyes and they struck her for some reason. She knew the story of who this girl was but looking into her eyes it was like she could see into her heart. "I would never ask you to do anything that you didn't want to do Meiko, I have only ever sought to help you. I know how the situation looks but I care for you more than you know. I didn't build this so that I could manipulate you into fighting, I built it so that if you decided to fight then you would have the ability to and along with that you would protected by strength. You have every choice in the world and I don't seek to take that away from you. I want you to be free to decide to be whoever you want to be." Tears filled Meiko's eyes as she looked into the woman's eyes and saw into her heart, seeing that the words she said now were true.

Milady now dared to take a step forward and Yzaks heart leapt within him for a moment as he realized that this was all that Meiko needed, nothing more. The truth would remain hidden as before. Milady looked toward him and saw the disappointment in his eyes; he was right, she needed to tell Meiko the truth but the words stuck in her throat. She could not say them though she so wanted to; seeing the girls fear brought it out yet the words stuck there within her.

Meiko wanted to believe her so badly and she knew that in her heart she did believe her but her mind still fought her. Memories of the past. She had forgiven herself for it but she would never be able to forgive Liene. How could something like this happen? How could she just trust someone? She wiped tears out of her eyes and the anger faded from her eyes, replaced with a hardness as she turned and ran from the room toward the outside.

"Let her go Milady," Yzak said stopping Milady before she could run after her.

"How can I get through to her?" Milady replied tears streaming down her face, "I know what I have to do yet I don't want to do it? Please tell me there is another way Yzak."

"There is no other way," he said bluntly to her with a flash of anger in his eyes, "grow up and take hold of who you really are Milady. The past doesn't matter anymore, because out there is a girl who has never had anyone she could really trust. You can't blame yourself for that but you can blame yourself for not being honest with her. Tell her the truth!" Milady heard him but she knew she couldn't bring herself to do it.

"How can I tell her the truth when I don't remember what it is to believe it?" Milady responded, "I've been running from it for so long, to face it myself would leave me empty. I can't face the past, please don't make me." With that Milady left the room now and Yzak said a silent prayer that somehow this matter would be resolved soon.

* * *

Meiko ran and ran until she reached the beach of the small island. There was nowhere left for her to run now, nothing left for her to do but to think. If what Milady said was true she could take the mobile suit and leave, but what prevented her? It was the look in Milady's eyes that she had seen now, the look that made her stay with this woman. Something bound them together and she couldn't understand it. She just wanted to be free yet as long as she didn't understand this she knew she would never be free.

She couldn't understand what people were expecting from her. In the past she was completely numb to the world and now all she wanted to do was to be more like herself not like anyone else.

"Uzumi where are you now?" she asked as tears poured down, "I need you, please help me." The wind howled around her as she cried.

_"Don't let it stop you."_ She heard a voice on the wind,_ "For you know who you are despite it all, and you know what you must do. I am always with you, I promise but you know the answer, it's there in your heart. All you have to do is see the truth." _She felt a hand on her shoulder yet she could not turn. He was here with her as always.

"I will not break," she responded to the wind, "all is lost again but I'm not going to give in!" She felt determination within her soul, "Though my path may lead to nowhere nothing will stop me! I vow this that the world will feel the power that is within me, not because anyone else wants it but because I want it. This war's not over yet." She looked up and she felt the presence of Uzumi floating around her now, giving her strength to stand her and declare how it would be. No one would stop her from this.

_"And you will be everything the world needs," _Uzumi whispered to her as he faded_ "for you will be all that you were born to be and the world will be saved."_

_

* * *

_**I can't believe I'm at another one of these points! Wow! The battle for ORB begins in the next chapter and it seems that I may be getting back into the story just in time for winter break. Expect intense moments to come. Meiko is once again on the edge but it is the war of Yaro that may just set the ending of the story so watch out for his actions. There is so much coming up and I want to know what exactly you think those things might be.**

**Next chapter names**

**Phase 33: Darker Dreams**  
**Phase 34: You Wished For Redemption**  
**Phase 35: Pheonix: She Shall Rise Again**  
**Phase 36: United In Fire**  
**Phase 37: Meiko's Heart**  
**Phase 38: Darkened Seed**  
**Phase 39: Reason**

**These are subject to change as I tend to split chapters and combine chapters at will. It seems we are getting close and closer to 50, I anticipate that there might be more or less than 50 depending on how everything plays out; if I can't get everything done in 50 I will make more because I want enough room to really tell this story in it's completion.**

**Oh yeah and anticipate the next chapter because there is a huge reveal within it if you don't want to be spoiled stop reading.**  
**We hear another of Milady's names.**

**SO**  
**Please REVIEW, REVIEW!**  
**-Winter Chill**


	35. Darker Dreams

**Finals Week is over! **  
**I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas, it's the most wonderful time of the year!**

**It is kind of short but it's mostly battle which is my weakest point. Please Review!**

**And Happy New Years!  
**

**Phase 33: Darker Dreams**

* * *

_The night was growing dark, I thought you were beside me but I reached and you were gone._

* * *

She stood upon the balcony of her mansion staring out toward the horizon. Cagalli felt no fear of the situation she saw there, Athrun was beside her holding her hand as they watched. The PLANT forces were coming and this time they were coming with full force. Normally she would be worried but for some reason she felt a peace that she could not explain, as some unforeseen force calmed her mind.

At the same time Yaro stood on the cliffs of ORB, a sense of urgency filling his being. This was the moment when when knew that his actions would count, but he didn't want them too. He wanted to be able to just fight normal but he knew now that the people around him weren't concerned about nothing. He knew that if he tried to resist the darkness once he got out there the anger and hatred would consume him again but he still had to try. He had to try and be the person that he was always meant to be, and he had to try to be simply Yaro, not the person twisted by the darkness. Fear began to fill him now, not of the battlefield or the people who would fight him but of himself and the darkness he felt.

In the coming battle he knew things were different, something about the winds had changed as if some unseen being calmed them. Something was making everything different and Yaro begged this force to change him, to somehow save him from the darkness that he now saw within himself or to at least give him answers.

* * *

Shinn and Luna walked together briskly hand in hand as they headed toward their mobile suits, battle stations had been called for but ORB had been ordered not to fire until they were fired upon. He was getting into the Destiny and she was going to the Impulse.

"When you get out there stay with me," Shinn whispered to her, "we can take things on better together." He then turned to board his mobile suit.

"Wait Shinn," he turned back to her, "I love you," she said simply. He smiled at her.

"I love you too," he responded climbing up toward the Destiny. She turned toward the Impulse, she had finally gathered the courage to say it and she knew now the battle would be long but they would protect each other out there. She prayed they both had the strength to survive everything again. They had survived so many times she hoped their luck was not running out on them. For everything out there looked more powerful than ever before, she wanted to make sure that in her heart she had said it before they faced the darkness together. She was no happy that she had gained the courage to do so.

* * *

"This is your last chance to surrender," it was a message played on all the machines that were gathered as the PLANT fleet made one last attempt to persuade ORB to give up Lacus's location. Every person in ORB heard it over their radios and the military all held their ground waiting for the PLANTs to let off the first blow. They had been like this for a couple hours just staring each other down, neither firing, for no one wanted to have the world look at them as the ones who started this battle, which was sure to bring about much suffering.

Yaro scowled at the message knowing that now it would begin, they had been waiting long enough. The PLANTs would fire or there would be no reason for their coming here. It was then that the ORB captains sent their stubborn response that they would not back down. Yaro moved his hands to his controls as he was instructed by Athrun. Their defense strategy was already lined up and he had an important role to play in all this.

_"Yaro when you get out there I want you to move exactly as I have instructed here," Athrun said. Yaro knew that Athrun trusted in his ability to control the battlefield as he had up to this point. The plan was just as a plan should be, it was very strong carrying little risk but Yaro couldn't help but think of the other factors that would exist._

_"But what if those machines don't show up?" Yaro asked and all the other commanders looked at him, "or what if they have a stronger force than you have predicted."_

_"Then we will instruct you on what actions to take," It was Murrue Ramius who spoke up now, she was a part of this council of defense along with Shinn Auska and a few members of the council. The measures they were taking were extreme but the protection of ORB was their first priority. Yaro looked at the plan once again, for in this new weapons would come into play._

Now he waited with baited breath for the PLANTs to make their first move and it came swiftly, a round of extreme blasts from all ships.

"Now!" Yaro yelled as his machine flew forward and the arms of the Dreamer extended releasing a massive amount of energy which was backed up by the mobile suits on the main front and as Athrun predicted the positron blasts denigrated as they hit the large field of Nuclear energy. Yaro smirked as he realized what Athrun's plan had done, they all had fresh machines while the opposing force would have to recharge. The newest and most powerful positron systems were really too slow to recharge at the rate they would need in this battle.

* * *

"So they have confirmed to me who is leading," Athrun said with anger in his eyes, "It's Verria Slider." Cagalli had heard stories of who this woman was; Athrun had known her most of his life and they had been students together in ZAFT. She was ruthless and his intelligence and spies had warned him that she was the strategist in the attack. He would simply have to be better as he had always been in his classes.

"Now Yaro will comply with the next stage of the plan," Mu LaFlaga was the one who spoke as he picked up his pilots helmet and turned to Jacob Gladys, "is it our turn."

"Yes," Athrun responded, "Let them come, launch the Repose."

* * *

"The waves that came from the Dreamer!" Verria yelled to one of her scientists, "What were they?"

"A nuclear force of some kind," one of them responded, "we have no idea what it is or how to counter it! This machine is all together to surprising! How did they get that much power into it?"

"No matter leave him to me," Verria was unnerved by the girl with the strange eyes. Gera was a strange little girl and not someone that she wanted to send into the battlefield but she knew the girls power was something she would have to use if she wanted to defeat the Dreamer. She had a plan and she was sure that it was Athrun Zala she was facing now in tactics, she would have to be stronger than him.

"Hang back for now," Verria commanded turning to her scientists, "Analyze that weapon and send out the Gundam team. We need to tire out that pilot. Our strategy will be based on time and force." She had to win this for the PLANTs.

* * *

"Recharger attachment confirmed," Yaro said quickly as he received the recharger from Mu, now his arm surger would recharge faster while he fought. He moved into position behind the double manned unit that Mu and Jacob flew together as was the plan as the mobile suit teams moved into defensive positions around the island.

"Wait for that Gundam team," Yaro heard Shinn's voice as the Destiny and Impulse took their positions around him.

"Roger," Yaro responded, he would comply with the plans today, for against such a large force tactics were more powerful than reckless movements of the heart. It was then that the three Gundam's launched and the mobile suit teams of the PLANTs headed into battle. They were met by the teams of ORB.

"As Athrun predicted," Shinn said, "they are trying to split our force and send the Gundam's down the middle to take out the command post." Yaro smirked again.

"They won't get away with it, now their ships are unprotected," Yaro punched the codes into his machine, "preparing positron blast."

"Moving into position," Lunamaria confirmed.

"Repose preparing to widen blast," Jacob said as the machine inched it's way forward using it's reflective shield.

"Now Luna!" Shinn said as the two ace pilots moved forward to challenge the Gundam's and cut their power on the two leads. Shinn took on two while Lunamaria had one, and Yaro watched in amazement as they successfully split the team out of the center.

"Now Yaro!" he heard Athrun's voice and he slammed his hands on the controls moving forward with the Repose and sending out a large positron blast. As predicted the repose's shield took the blast and funneled it into a widening system that successfully split it and focused it into five of the lead ships in the fleet. The blast continued destroying those five ships and severely damaging several others in the fleet as well.

* * *

"He wouldn't!" Verria yelled in shock, "he'll leave the Dreamer completely defenseless and drain it of it's power if he keeps this up! How is this possible for that machine to keep going if they keep pulling stunts like this?"

"It's because the pilot is being compliant today," Gera said in her not so sweet little voice, "he's being boring. I don't want to fight him yet, I want to fight the boy with the reckless antics. I want to fight the pilot who took down so many PLANT forces without using any tactics, just anger and the passion of his heart. It is they kind of pilot that is hardest to face yet at the same time easiest to take down."

Verria wondered if the girls assessment of the pilot was correct. If that was so why would Athrun risk sending someone like that into battle unless he felt he could really trust him? Perhaps there were things going on that she didn't understand. No matter the forces were fighting out there and she knew that this battle would not easily be one but she had to fight it as if she could win it. She had to fight it with confidence to throw off her enemies. She had the upper hand here.

* * *

"Next stage!" Athrun yelled as he launched the Truth into battle with strength, "Yaro!" As instructed the young pilot was already there behind him ready to take what he brought. Athrun flew his machine right up to the Dreamer and slammed the energy pack he was carrying onto the machine.

"Received!" Yaro confirmed and Athrun smiled as the two moved together. He must have gotten through to the boy, Yaro was clearly fighting with his mind and not his heart. He was being the solider that Athrun hoped he would be today and perhaps they could win this with their combined strength. Athrun was not doubtful but he knew that there were steps that he would have to take next to prevent something dreadful from happening.

The two moved together in formation fighting through the lines of the Zaft forces, firing shots and taking down units. They disarmed and didn't kill. It reminded Athrun of fighting with Kira to a certain extent though Yaro was no where near as smooth a fighter as his father.

"We need to take down as many enemy mobile suits as we can," Athrun said, "while Shinn and Luna still have the Gundam's pinned down." Yaro nodded, he understood the plan. The enemy wished to overwhelm them by numbers but it would not happen. Today the Dreamer and the Truth had made a pact to make sure this didn't happen. Rain began to fall over the skies of the battlefield as they fought and a strange wind blew as if something was awakening in the earth beneath them. Yaro felt his seed activate in his mind as focus filled him for the battle ahead. The same thing happened in Athrun and Shinn and Cagalli; their seeds broke calling them into the fight and willing them to be strong.

_"We are all depending on you Yaro," Athrun had said, "but not to fight with your hatred, to follow the plans I have laid out. Will you do as I have instructed or will you continue down a path to destruction?" Athrun held his hand out to the boy._

_"I will fight as you instruct me," Yaro responded, "for ORB!"_

* * *

The skies were darkening as rain fell where Meiko stood. She did not move as she felt it but rather she froze in place as the world felt off balance as if something was wrong. Her mind turned to Yaro, where was he now? Was he safe?

Wherever he was he didn't even know she was alive and that thought was what had left her frozen there. She had been here all this time just wondering, not searching, just wondering. What if he was lost? Was it even possible for her to find him again? If she did how would things be? They departed from each other as friends in a way, but somehow it didn't feel like she could trust that at this point. Something in her heart pulled her to think on the past, to think on him and all the things that had happened. They had become friends and then maybe something more, it was unexplainable to her what had happened but hatred had marred their lives and the path which they had shared split as her darkness came forth and his light was quenched.

Tears escaped from her eyes as she willed them to stay where they were and as memories floated though her. Would she find him again?

"Where are you now?" she said to nowhere. Her breathing increased as eh felt an urgency growing in her soul. He was important not only to the world but to her, somehow even after all this time of trying to put every part of her past behind her she couldn't get rid of him. He was an ever existing presence in her soul, something that she could not erase.

She was no longer burdened by the darkness of the past but now she was feeling the darkness of the presence. She had to know what was happening that was causing this to surface now. She turned from the rain and stepped inside the base again, to the hangar once again and stared up at the grand machine and back. There she saw it, a large screen where they had gathered, the soldiers of Redemption. They were watching a battle unfold and a machine she had never seen before stood out to her and struck a chord with her.

The way he fought was so similar yet at the same time it was very different than it had been before because so many things had changed within him. The evidence of the life that he had given up was still there but the light was replaced by a darkness and an urgency, like he was missing a part of himself the same way she was. It just couldn't be real but she felt it now, everything was real. ORB was in a battle that they could not win alone and Yaro was there defending them as strongly as he knew how to but this wasn't something he could do on his own and these people here were doing nothing. She wanted so badly to yell to say something of protest to those who were standing around but she could only stand there as tears flowed down her face for somehow she was the same. She was here doing nothing while Yaro was there fighting.

She lifted her hand to her face as tears rolled down and she knew that she was no better than them. She turned her head slightly as she saw Milady across the hangar look toward Meiko's distress; Meiko felt some connection with that woman and she knew that somehow Milady could feel the sorrow in her heart. This frightened Meiko as much as her own uselessness in the situation at hand and she turned and ran once again. This time she was followed.

"I won't loose her again," Milady said to Yzak as she turned to run after Meiko. This wasn't the time for this but at the same time it was, the little girl needed someone with her now. She needed someone to understand her and someone to help her. She needed Milady even though the older woman knew she might not understand. Now was not the time for her fear, Milady now had to face the past and the rejection and hurt and everything that had brought her to this moment. Whatever Meiko chose to do would be her decision, at least she would go on in life with the truth in her heart. Milady had been silent for too long, hoping everything would fall into place but no longer.

* * *

"That machine!" Verria was angry now, esspecially with Gera floating around the bridge of her command ship, "he's fighting even stronger than before!" She hated the Dreamer now, it had shamed so many PLANT commanders and now it was shaming her taking down too many machines in too short a time to be real.

"It's because he's focused on the plan," Gera said with a laugh, "no more angry movements, just focus; it's beautiful isn't it! Spark his hatred and this mask will fall apart."

"But how!" Verria protested

* * *

"That's it Yaro," Athrun said to himself as Yaro continued to fight according to the plan. Yaro would be joining with his old team mate Tripp Giswig soon. The two were a good force together, that was sure to settle some things with the third PLANT gundam that had gotten away from Shinn. Athrun turned to the right side of the battle backing up his own units.

* * *

"Formation!" Tripp yelled following Yaro into the fight against the third Gundam.

"Right!" Yaro said as Tripp pinned the unit down with rapid fire. Yaro moved in from the back drawing him beam saber as the machine spun around to face him and Tripp shot it in the back.

"Good," Tripp responded. Yaro fought the unit with his beam saber as Tripp came in to shot a blast that would disarm the machine entirely. That was when it happened and a blast rang out from one of the large ships severing through the right arm of Tripp's unit! Something activated in Yaro's head spinning his mind around as he tried to fight it. Now was not the time. A blue glow filled his cockpit as anger filled him and he slashed through the defenses of the machine in front of it destroying it completely. He moved the Dreamer back as it exploded and shook the anger out of his head returning to focus as the blue glow faded and he was a Tripp's side.

"Be more careful!" Yaro commanded his friend as the two fought off some nearby mobile suits. They had made a good team on battles past and they fought now as they were completely familiar with each other's tactics.

"How is your machine?" Yaro asked him after they had disarmed several machines in a row, "you should go back before you run out of power." It was then that something rocked Yaro's machine as he reflexively used his right arm's energy shield to take a blast that was heading toward them. Something new was here.

The whole battlefield saw it as a Black Gundam entered the stage, clearly stronger than the three others.

* * *

"Come on Yaro," Gera laughed to herself as she could almost see the shock on the boy's face at seeing another Gundam on the field, "I want to see your anger! FIGHT ME!" She fired one of her weapons in a way Yaro did not expect.

* * *

He hated this feeling, this helplessness as he saw a large blast fire out of the reach of his shields and into the machine that held his friend and teammate. Tripp cried out as his machine was destroyed and Yaro no longer held back the anger that filled him as the blue glow dominated taking over every fiber of his being.

"You're going to pay for this!" He yelled charging for the machine.

* * *

Athrun joined up with Luna after he learned that she had successfully disarmed the Gundam she was facing with the help of some nearby troops. They were fighting together when the saw the black Gundam challenge Yaro.

"Hold on Yaro!" Athrun said as he saw the large battlefield he would have to cut across to aid the boy. The enemy had planned this perfectly. Yaro was the only one within his area to face this machine. Shinn, Luna and Athrun were all too far away and Mu and Jacob were busy with the ships. Athrun shook his head in amazement; Tripp's machine had been destroyed as if someone knew that they just had to send Yaro over the edge. No he had to trust Yaro, the boy had changed and was trying much harder not to let his anger control him but something told Athrun that something out there was terribly wrong.

"Athrun, we can't let this happen!" Luna said.

"We have to trust him," Athrun replied to her, "keep to the plan, he is strong enough for this! Call for stage 5! We need backup!"

* * *

Meiko took a step back as Milady was there before her once again. She had to get out of this place, this island where they were only the same as everything she had seen before. They claimed they were going to help ORB yet they stood around and watched the battle unfold. They waited for her decision as if they wanted to user her. She knew things here didn't add up and she was beginning to fear their intentions, she had already accused Milady and just when she began to believe the woman had her interests in mind this happens. Meiko was resolved to help ORB but to do that she had to get off this island and she didn't know how to trust these people. No one could just care for her, they had to have their motives. Now Milady stood there trying to stop her from leaving, trying to manipulate her into staying again.

"Meiko stop running!" Milady said forcefully as she remembered Yzak's words, she refused to be a coward now, this girl needed her now more than ever. Meiko was confused and scared about everything that was happening and Milady refused to just let this continue to go on. Yzak was right Meiko needed the truth now thought it would be hard on all of them to face it.

"NO!" Meiko yelled at her taking another step back, "you can't think that I will stay here any longer! I won't be your puppet Milady, I don't belong to anyone! I just got my freedom back! You can't ask me to give it up to you under the guise that you are going to save ORB! How can I trust that you haven't rigged that mobile suit?" She turned to run again but ran right into Yzak who grabbed her arms before she could hit him. So they were trying to hold her here. She struggled against him as one of her injuries flared up but she had to be stronger than him! She twisted her arms out of his grasp, pushing him away but she tripped down as she did and fell backwards to the ground.

"That's enough Meiko!" Milady declared once again removing her mask.

"No," Meiko responded, "I fight for myself, not for anyone else! I can't trust you guys, please don't ask me too! ORB's in trouble and you're doing nothing! If you're on our side why didn't you help us before? Why didn't you help us stop the STING and ROW?" More tears came now, she had reconciled herself to what had happened back then but the question still lingered; what if it had been different?

"Meiko I could do nothing," Milady said with sadness in her voice and with sorrow in her heart, "though everything within me wanted to. Listen to me when I say this, If I had known how you felt I would have but I didn't so I chose to opt out because I didn't want to fight you! I've fought for so long to believe that ROW hadn't broken you and now I see that in a way they have. You can't see who you're friends are, all you see are enemies but let it be no longer Meiko! You have to trust me when I say that I am on your side and I don't want to harm you! I want you to have freedom, please see the truth Meiko." Once again her eyes locked Meiko in making Meiko think that she was trying to manipulate her, something did not add up. There was something about this woman that was too strange and familiar to her to be real; something within her heart trusted her though she found it hard to but she was too scared about what might happen. She was frightened by the idea that she might make a mistake and trust the wrong person. She had worked too hard and waited too long to be free for this to happen.

"Stop it!" Meiko yelled grabbing her head as she felt the familiar feeling stirring through her. Yzak saw then, the girl was still a child in so many ways and she needed Milady now; he looked at the resolve on Milady's past and knew that the woman saw it too.

"Why? Why did you do this?" Meiko yelled.

"Please forgive me, Meiko," Milady responded walking forward a few steps and hesitating as memories of the child flowed through her now, the past floating around her in that moment like a mist that had always haunted her, something she could never escape yet something that was so vital to her existence.

That moment Meiko looked up into her eyes and Milady's heart melted within her, her instincts took over and she found herself strong enough to say the words she had hidden inside herself for so long.

"Please, please forgive me," Milady continued tears now pouring down her face, "Meiko I care about you more than you know and you have to understand that everything I did, I did for you. Somehow find it within yourself to forgive me because I would die for you." She took a sharp breath as Meiko's eyes focused in on the crystal blue eyes of Milady and it was as if something inside of her broke and she saw things clearly.

She was a child, a year old as she ran as fast as a wobbly child could to her mother, the woman lifted her into her arms and she felt safe as those blue eyes watched over her.

"My name is Maryah Virea," Milady said as she knelt down beside her child, "I am your mother." Meiko knew in this moment why her heart trusted this woman and she began to feel safe as this woman wrapped her arms around her again and rocked her as if she was once again a small child. Meiko forgave her everything in that moment as she felt home for the first time in her life; she was home.

* * *

**So what does everyone think about that?**  
**So much to say but then again not so much!**

**I really want to know your reaction to this chapter. So much more coming!**  
**REVIEW TIME!**  
**Tell me what you think!**  
**-WinterChill**


	36. You Wished For Redemption

**Battles may be my weakness but once I get into them it's pretty hard for me to stop writing. I'm excited about this chapter.**

**A quick update, because I am relentless, this story is far from over!  
**

**Phase 34: You Wished For Redemption**

* * *

"It was something that I wanted more than anything," she said once they were in out of the rain, "I wanted to be free of my past and everything wrong I had ever done, for in the first war my actions caused so much death and pain. I was fighting in the earth forces and I truly believed I was right to do so but I was so wrong, and I didn't find out until it was almost too late." A blanket was draped around Meiko as she listened in awe of the fact that for the first time she had family. Here was her mother, she couldn't believe it. This woman had watched over her so many times.

"I was badly injured from a mobile suit explosion," she continued on remembering everything, "I was near death but somehow something within me was protecting me. I was floating in space inside a pilots suit for what felt like hours when he came, John Liene's ship happened to be passing by my way. He picked me up and cared for me. After a few weeks I was well and I had discovered that I was pregnant with you, it was one of the few things that kept me going because I wanted to die. Liene was kind to me, he cared for me like no one had in a long time. I told him everything that had happened in the war and he in turn taught me to forget it, saying that such things have past and they no longer have a hold on us. So I pretended to let go of everything but you were a constant reminder once you were born because you reminded me so much of your father." Meiko tilted her head as if to ask who it was so Milady answered that next, "he was an earth forces pilot who was killed early on in the war, he was not strong enough to fight against such strong forces as ZAFT released. It was partially for him that I fought, but I was mostly selfish."

"What kind of person was he?" Meiko asked her, "from what it sounds, I inherited both of your legacies, fighting and fighting." Milady looked into Meiko's eyes remembering everything, all the hurt and guilt that she carried about the things that never should have occurred yet things that she could not change.

"He was the best kind of person," she said looking up into the distance, "but I do not really look back on it with much sadness, it was more of a youthful infatuation. We had both been burdened by the earth forces with particular tasks in the war, and we both leaned on each other for comfort. When he died I was devastated so I fought harder and multiple times I betrayed people that I loved for further my own interests. It was wrong and I knew it, but I was so angry. Liene took these haunting feelings and twisted me, I changed my name from Virea to Frost and my first name became Rayla; in doing so I distanced myself from you and very few ROW operatives knew the truth of who I was. I posed as your nurse and nothing more, trying to forget the past." Meiko looked saddened by this.

"I loved you," Milady continued, "I loved you so much Meiko, despite everything. You were a part of me, the only part of the real me I had left and I vowed to protect you but I didn't realize who Liene was and what he was doing. He had child projects whom he was using in an elaborate plan to change the world. I backed him up because I too wanted to change the world, but like so many others I was deceived by him. I realized what his plan was and what it would cause this world to become."

"So you left," Meiko continued for her, "and you left me behind."

"No your wrong about that," Milady responded with sadness radiating from her, "I didn't want to loose you! I fought to get you back, but it was too late, he had hidden you away from me. It was all I could do to escape with my life but when I did I left Mike to protect you because I realized I couldn't. I took upon myself the duty to counter Liene, changing my name a final time to redemption and building my force to destroy him. All this time I have watched and waited for you to grow into the power I knew you possessed for all this time I had to believe that you my daughter would take on the traits of kindness that were possessed by your father. I prayed that by his grace your soul would not be destroyed by Liene's hatred. I feared that it had when the Journey was destroyed but I began to see that it was by Uzumi's hand that your soul was freed."

"For he gave his life for me," Meiko confirmed thinking back through everything, "he gave his life, to make sure that I would live to save this world. He did it as if he knew my importance when I know he didn't. He didn't deserve to die for me, and I have put it behind me but I still believe it was wrong! It was Liene's selfish act that caused it and I was powerless to do anything to stop me. Now Liene's twisted ways have caused a war between ORB and the PLANTs."

"Yes," Milady replied standing up, "this war is one that can only be stopped by you Meiko, for within you alone lies the power to defeat the forces that were sent by the PLANTs. But all this is your decision, there is nothing that can force you to do it, you have to make the choice! You wished for redemption, now it is up to you to hold it close and take what is yours!"

Meiko looked toward the window and saw his face once again, somewhere Yaro was out there. Perhaps they would not be so far apart anymore. Everything hinged on her choice. Save ORB and she would dirty her hands again with the blood of the coordinators, for she believed that she would not be able to fight any other way. The question was was she willing to lay her life on the line? Was she willing to put everything she had gained at risk once again for this twisted world?

* * *

"Entering stage 5!" Meyrin shouted, "load all lunch tubes, prepare main guns and engines! Tell Ceveris to load into the launch tube and wait for orders!" Alicesia smiled as she carried out the orders now. The plan was going on above according to plan, now it was there turn.

"You ready Meyrin?" she looked up to see Murrue Ramuis's face on the screen above her.

"Yes," Meyrin responded, "Now Minerva! Stay with the archangel! Launch together! We're going to stop this battle!" The two ships then from under water were propelled upward. They rose faster and faster till they exploded into the the surface of the ocean. Following after then were hundreds of small submarines which moved toward the enemy forces form below.

* * *

"All mobile suit forces into defensive positions!" Athrun commanded over the wide range radio.

"Yaro's pinned down!" Lunamaria urgently expressed to Athrun, "That mobile suit! It's stronger than the rest!"

* * *

"You're going to pay for this!" He yelled charging for the machine as the blue glow intensified around him no further than it had ever gone but for some reason he slipped and seemed to loose his mind. Time stopped for what seemed like ages and he found himself far away.

_"Clearly the skies are changing," he saw a woman before him with dark black hair much like his own and eyes that sparkled differently than any he had seen. Where was he now and what was happening. Why was he brought here now? The battle in ORB was his focus, He had to protect those who he cared about. The woman seemed sad as she floated about and she was angry at the same time. She was angry with him for some reason he didn't understand and yet at the same time she smiled._

_"Who are you?" he yelled at the strange figure._

_"Why I am a part of you," she responded holding out her hand, "you who wallow in the past and feel the darkness of everyone else! You who swore to protect the future yet you have made movements that clearly jeopardize it." He was becoming angrier with every word, "And for what cause? What is it that really drives you Yaro Yamato or whoever you are, for only the name Yaro really belongs to you. Do you dare pretend that you are powerful any longer? Do you dare persist that you own this world or that it should be some way simply because that is what you desire? Our desires are always selfish, so what is it about yours that makes you different from the rest of the world? Your pride or your love of a girl who could do nothing to help you in the end? Your path is one of broken tragedy and you try to change it? You arrogant fool! Do you really think that by fighting and by the strength of your own will you can change this world!"_

_"STOP IT!" Yaro yelled trying to get her voice out of his head. This woman taunted him, he had to fight her! He couldn't listen to her! Not if he wanted to save ORB._

_"Then do you deny that by your own actions Meiko Virea was killed?" The woman continued on, "because you were in danger, because she cared for you more than herself she killed herself so that you would live! Do you dare to say that you are some all powerful person who can right the wrongs? You are destined to become everything that you have sworn to destroy because in your heart dwells a darkness that you can't stop! Do you not desire the destruction of all the world around you?"_

_"NO HE DOES NOT!" it was another voice, a voice he knew. Uzumi. "Go away you who would torment and lie! You who would twist the soul of the one that you should protect! You who do not understand what it was that you did to cause all this you only see your own pain! Flee from me or I will destroy the memory of you from the world! GO back to the shadows now and come again no more!" And with a grim cry just as she came she disappeared and Yaro lifted his eyes to see Uzumi in front of him, back turned to him as a warrior protecting him with his arms outstretched. Angry Uzumi turned back to him._

_"Fight it Yaro!" Uzumi yelled, "Fight!"_

Just as quickly as it had come the vision faded and the dark Gundam was coming toward him. He dogged the blast from it in just a split second in time.

"Yaro!" he heard Athrun's voice as anger surged through him at this pilot, she had killed his friend, she wasn't going to get away with this! "Yaro stage 5 is commencing! Get out of there!" Yaro knew this part of the plan, perhaps he could lure the black gundam into the trap. Angry he launched his mobile suit high into the air out of the range of the next stage.

* * *

"He's moved!" Luna yelled, "but he is still being engaged by the enemy.

"No matter, he's out," Athrun responded opening another channel, "now Minerva! lead the charge!"

* * *

Meyrin smiled as the main ships of the ORB forces followed her lead and as she ordered it they all fired at the same time. The front lines of the PLANTs broke instantly as many of the blasts hit their targets, damaging the ships and mobile suit teams that were coming. They fired a second round as the charge continued.

* * *

Yaro fought off the black suit while struggling with his own anger and the words of the vision.

"Come on don't hold back!" the girl in the mobile suit taunted him, "I want to see your anger! I want you to hate me! HATE ME! FIGHT ME!" His mind warred with him as he told himself not to give into this. He needed a way of escape, she was strong and he didn't want ot fight this person now. He looked down as the ORB ships fired all their firepower at once in an attempt to destroy the PLANT ships.

"Then follow me," Yaro replied as his super seed glowed and he used his anger to see the way out. He dived from their high place in the sky, just in time to miss the volley shooting from the Minerva as he descended into the sea below and behind the safety of the ships defenses.

* * *

"Now launch all mobile suit teams and forces," Meyrin heard Murrue's broadcast to the ships and then they rose, a second wave of fresh ORB troops into the sky fighting for their nation. Meyrin smiled a the strength the nation had show so far. She was sure the PLANTs had not expected them to have such a large military force at this time. They had been holding back and now they were unleashing the full power of ORB upon the world.

* * *

Verria laughed now as she saw many of her own forces fall and the ORB forces make their move toward the front lines. This was all too good to her as she had seen Zala's plan coming her way and she realized now that her own plans completely countered him. This battle would belong to the PLANTs just as she promised the Chairwoman that it would. She made motions to her commanders and moved her troops accordingly.

"They have left themselves wide open," she said with a laugh as she watched her own troops encircle, "now they are trapped. They think they are the only ones who can supply a fresh wave of troops. Now PLANT forces double the number they sent!"

With the Dreamer pinned down they were sure to win.

* * *

Gera had tried to follow Yaro but was stopped by the volley from the ORB ships. He had played it well and now he was out of her reach. She jumped back and was quickly engaged by another mobile suit which seemed very powerful.

* * *

"Now you will face the power of the Iron Fist!" Ceveris said in anger, he had seen Yaro just narrowly escape this machine, he had to be In position for the next part of the plan, so Ceveris made the decision to fight back this machine.

"You think you can defeat the power of the black gundam alone?" the girl in the mobile suit questioned in anger.

"He's not alone!" A blast hit the side of the black Gundam and Ceveris turned shocked to see the Courage. Kiran Yamato had disobeyed orders to stay behind and come anyway. This kid was strong enough to help him and he knew that Kiran had made the right decision. Right now this machine was after Yaro and together they had to stop her.

"Formation Kid, we can beat this one!" Ceveris said to Kiran.

"Correction commander," Kiran responded, "kids don't pilot Gundams, I am no kid."

* * *

Athrun was overwhelmed as he and Lunamaria stood down watching the old ORB troops come in to rest as the new wave replaced them. Shinn had insisted on staying out there and Cagalli had come down to see Athrun as he evaluated the next part of their plans. The PLANTs had countered their fresh troops with more fresh troops; they had more forces than ORB by far and Athrun began to realize that his careful planning alone wasn't going to beat them.

"We have to hold on," Cagalli said putting a hand on his shoulder, "you can do this, we just have to keep on fighting."

"Yes," Athrun replied picking up his helmet and turning back to Lunamaria, "We have to get back out there." It was then that they received a broadcast from the Minerva, it was Meyrin.

"Athrun!" she said frantically, "Kiran is on the battlefield! He has engaged the black Gundam with Ceveris!" Athrun's heart skipped a beat at the news. This was not supposed to happen. Now Kiran was in danger if they didn't succeed. New determination filled him. Neither of Kira Yamato's sons could fall in battle today, he had lost his own son, he would not allow his friend to feel that pain.

* * *

Jeffery Zala stood back from the balcony for a second watching as the battle unfolded from the distance in the Attha mansion. It appeared to be going well at first but things just seemed to be getting worse as the rain fell down harder.

"Come inside Jeffery," he turned to see Nessara, "You'll catch a cold out there. We'll turn on the news and then we'll know even more about what is going on. There is really nothing we can do from here." He stood still as if he hadn't heard her, "please Jeffery." She pleaded. He didn't move. His family was out there and the last time there was a battle like this he had lost a brother. He did not want to loose another one. He hated felling useless.

"Jeffery!" he felt a slap hit his face as Nessara stepped out in front of him, "you're a prince of ORB! You're strong! Don't sit here and imagine what could happen! Stand strong like Uzumi would have wanted you too! Snap out of it." He looked at her as tears escaped from his eyes and she took his hand and led him inside.

"You're right," Jeffery finally said, "We have to stay strong, I have to stay strong."

* * *

"Yaro!" Athrun contacted the boy as he saw the Dreamer resurface near ORB forces, "you made it!"

"I'm ready for the next stage," Yaro responded as the recharger for his arms ejected from his machine.

"Then advance forward," Athrun responded, "Luna and I will cover you!"

Yaro obeyed moving forward as Athrun disarmed any unit that tried to come before them and Luna used the impulse to strike any who dared to attack from a longer range.

"Up!" Athrun ordered and the three machines accelerated quickly putting themselves at a large output to climb high into the sky. Once they reached a certain altitude the stopped completely. Yaro began to type in the configurations, quickly taking into mind the environment which the higher altitude had. This was one of the more risky parts of the plan and one of the reasons why the Dreamer had been built the way it had. This machine was made to protect ORB.

"Everything in place," Yaro affirmed to Athrun.

"You do realize your power output will decrease for the next hour," Athrun replied, "and even then without the recharger you won't be able to use this weapon again for another seven hours." Yaro nodded to this.

"I'm ready," he replied.

"Then fire," Athrun responded. Yaro opened stretching the arms of his machine forward and letting out another kind of blast downward into the heart of the PLANT forces, that hung back as a fresh wave away from the ORB forces.

"TAKE THIS! FOR ORB!" he yelled as a wave swept over them and all nuclear power disappeared from within their forces leaving it completely worthless. The ships would no longer be able to enter the fight. Yaro felt his own tiredness begin to sweep over him but he knew he had to keep going.

The three Gundams lept back into the battle together taking up their defensive positions for ORB. Luna appeared behind Shinn offering him backup as Yaro spotted some friends who needed his help. He felt anger fill him once again as he realized that his little brother had indeed arrived on the battlefield after everyone had told him that he would not be allowed to. It was all a lie.

* * *

Verria was shocked by the turn of events.

"Our backup forces are completely out of power!" one of the bridge members said, "The same weapon the Dreamer used before took out all nuclear energy!"

"Gera was supposed to keep that machine pinned down!" Verria yelled. Now Zala had made a move worthy of his reputation. She leaned back and smiled though, he thought that she didn't have another force waiting. That one was trivial, one small loss. The PLANTs still had superior numbers and superior tactics.

* * *

"The battle for ORB has been raging," Kira said to Lacus as they stood before the launch catapult, "are you sure Lacus? You won't be able to follow immediately."

"Go Kira," Lacus said to him, "you need to get down there if they are to be saved. Take the Justice when you get there and I will follow when I can with your new machine. Perhaps we can get it to run at least." Kira looked at her and hugged her, he held her close not wanting to let her go. If he left the Clyne faction base was automatically more vunerable.

"You're not going anywhere without me," they both turned to see Leyas standing there.

"Or me," Trey was with her, "I have a mobile suit after all, I want to help."

"A two person mobile suit," Leyas responded, "we've been working with Waltfeld on getting it outfitted specifically for both of us."

"No," Kira responded, "you to should remain here, It's dangerous down there."

"Which is exactly why you need protection once you ascend the atmosphere," Trey responded with determination, "you are taking a small ship with no defenses, you would do better if we followed you in!" He could not deny that they had a point there.

"But Leyas…" Lacus was stopped by Kira.

"The important thing is getting to ORB alive now," he replied taking Lacus in his arms again, "I'll protect them don't worry." Lacus knew he would so she reluctantly consented. The important thing now was ORB. That nation was one of the last safeguards in the world and right now the Clyne faction were their only allies who could help.

"And I will prepare things on my end," Lacus replied, "the Clyne faction will once again rise to ORB's defense!"

* * *

Kiran and Ceveris maneuvered around the machine but it was clearly picking up their tactics. Kiran was thrown off balance by a missile that came from the large machine and his Courage was sent stumbling toward the ocean. Ceveris drew his beam sabers and faced the machine.

"You're move," he said with a grin as determination filled him.

* * *

"Ceveris is engaging the black machine alone!" Alicesia declared.

"Where is Kiran?" Meyrin asked desperately standing up as the scene was shown before them, "Where is he!"

"He's in the ocean," Alicesia replied confirming his location, "His machine is partially damaged but he is on his way up to back up Ceveris!" Meyrin looked at the scene, this Gundam was more powerful than him, he couldn't take it alone but at this rate Kiran would never make it in time.

"Tell him to pull back!" Meyrin yelled.

"We've lost contact with him," Alicesia responded quickly, "they must have been damaged." They then watched as an arm was cut from Ceveris's machine followed by a leg, then the main camera was destroyed.

"Ceveris!" Meyrin yelled standing and almost jumping toward the screen as tears filled her eyes.

* * *

"Hold on," Kiran yelled as he reappeared from the water blocking what would have been the black machine's final blow to Ceveris. It would never reach his friend. He quickly spun around the black machine kicking it and firing a round from the arms of the machine.

"You!" the girl yelled leaping for him. The seed exploded in the back of his mind but before he could make another move the Dreamer rammed into the black machine causing it to crash down into the ocean with the momentum he was moving at. Yaro fired a blast into the ocean causing the water to move and throwing of the balance of the pilot.

"I understand why you did it Kiran," Yaro said to his little brother, "but this time you have to let me face this battle alone. Take Ceveris back to the Minerva. I know I can not ask you to stay out of the battle completely, but let me deal with this Gundam now. You fight for ORB little brother but this battle is mine." With that Yaro crashed into the ocean after the black machine. He saw clearly that this machine was after him and he would face it as another battle that he had to fight.

"YARO NO!" Kiran yelled as his brother disappeared. Kiran turned to help Ceveris's machine back to the Minerva then he turned back to the battlefield as his seed blazed he was ready now.

"Uzumi protect Yaro," he whispered to the air as he fired into the PLANT forces and attacked.

* * *

Gera saw the Dreamer coming after her and she realized she was at a disadvantage underwater. Somehow he had read that from her. Angrily she pushed a few buttons and prodded her machine on, she needed to get out of here fast. The Dreamer fired toward her and she dogged blasting back to the surface and turning to wait for him to come up.

He suprised her as suddenly he appeared above her. Somehow he had gotten around her.

"Why are you doing this?" she heard a radio call and heavy breathing coming from the other pilot. This long battle was beginning to take it's toll on him.

"Because it's who I am," she responded coldly.

* * *

Yaro flipped his mobile suit once again as he tried so hard to keep everything on top, but he was loosing out as he felt the seed burning up his mind and the anger threatening to destroy him.

He fought back trying to stop the visions that kept trying to block him from the battlefield but some force was trying to destroy him and at the same time another force was fighting back to protect him. He moved his mobile suit accordingly fighting back the black Gundam for ORB and for the people that he loved and he wondered how much longer he would be able to keep it up if he was loosing strength so fast.

* * *

"Move all forces," Athrun yelled, "Full force attack!" Shinn and Lunamaria then appeared by his side and the three pilots attacked with everything that was in them.

They had to win this battle! They just had to.

* * *

Meiko Virea.

She had always been a pawn in Liene's games. She had always been a weapon to others until now.

Milady and Yzak watched her carefully now, she had just found out the truth and her response clearly showed that it had changed things. Now she watched the screen that played the battle and it seemed the one in the most trouble now was Yaro, not to mention the fact that ORB was clearly loosing the battle even though Athrun had lined up a plan for it's defense. Yzak and Milady had both made there choice but now they were waiting for a word from Meiko. No matter what she said they had to go soon, but they held back for a moment longer waiting for their Phoenix, for she could turn the tide of this war more easily than anyone else now.

She stared blankly ahead, all around tried to read what was going on in her mind as she watched the screen and the battle that took place. ORB was putting up a good fight but it was becoming more and more clear that without the Clyne faction they would not be able to stand up to the PLANTs completely. Milady and Yzak glanced at each other both knowing that they were running out of time but also understanding that Meiko's choice would define how they would approach.

Meiko watched it, every stroke of movement there on the battlefield. The death before her and she closed her eyes to it finding herself standing before the edge of something so great. Her mind and heart will clear as she saw inside herself her heart, her destiny, her call. She clasped her hands together and brought them to her forehead as she thought of everything that she has gone through in life, and everything that had changed in the past few months. Fear and doubt no longer plagued her as they had in the past, she was no longer filled with sorrow and confusion. No longer dominated by hatred and pain, now she was completely clear, she was Meiko, she was herself. She had made it through the dark to come to this moment, to stand in this position with a new mobile suit behind her and a battlefield in front of her. A choice that was her own, a time to be everything that she believed in, to battle on her own, a path that was her own. She hated the front lines in the past and now she could see the heavens before her though the flames still reached for her, she felt so differently. These were the enemies of peace fighting to destroy the things that she cared about and the values that should govern the world of the living; this was something she could no longer ignore. She had to destroy the evil in the world or else everything would be repeated in someone elses life. This was her path, everything was so clear, she had the power to destroy this and she would use it. A fire was lit inside of her.

"I can't ignore this," she said softly letting her arms drop to her sides and opening her eyes and those around her saw the fire that was reflected in her violet orbs. She turned around slowly as she knew that everyone was watching her every move, she was once the greatest in ROW and now she was the greatest on her own. She stared ahead at the mobile suit and took two steps toward it seeing the faces of those whom she cared for and hearing the voices of all those whom had fought to save her, now knowing that her visions were warnings and she could change it all.

"I can feel it inside of me," she said as her resolve echoed, "I am ready for the road less traveled, this is my battle. My test, my burden to bear." She turned to Milady and Yzak, "You have no idea what you are getting yourselves into but I make my own path now, no orders you issue will ever mean anything to me despite who you are to me. When I fight, I fight for what I believe in. I've been controlled for to long, you've given me this mobile suit and there is no going back now. No one has power over me, I will never again pledge to fight under the banner of another, I will ally with you but I am my own army in this. Understand I will never be held down again, no offense to you but I've seen too much. I am happy with everything you have done for me and with the things you have revealed to me, but I can protect this world better by following my own path than by following anyone else. Despite the past mother I do forgive you and I will protect you the way you did me from afar for so long, but I am not a solider of Redemption and I will not fight under that banner."

"We are not asking you to fight under our banner," Milady responded stepping forward, "The Phoenix was created for you to fight in the way you see fit. This is yours and we will not ask you to do anything more than to use it for any purpose you see fit. I know you daughter, my Meiko you will fight alone but you will always make the right choice."

"Then if you want a Phoenix, I'll give you a Phoenix." Determination was in her.

* * *

The next think Yzak and Milady knew they were responding to a list of demands made by the girl. A black leather pilot suit, an assortment of concealed weapons and the machine repainted to a new color scheme that Meiko selected. Yazk rolled his eyes at the requests but Milady understood them, Meiko was more than just a pilot, she was an assassin and she would need all her gear to feel comfortable. Now Milady helped her daughter prepare; Meiko was still in recovery and her limbs were not as flexible as they had been before, she still has to work back up to that point.

Meiko spread her arms as Milady attacked the knife belts to her arms. and a few other concealed weapons along the back of the armory she had demanded.

"I am not just here for mobile suit combat," Meiko said as the warrior within her filled her eyes, "the PLANTs will feel my wrath and they will run from it!"

* * *

She boarded the mobile suit and let her hands graze over the controls. She smiled to herself as she lifted her eyes to where her path was stretching before her. She had been told everything about the Phoenix that they could tell her in a short time and now they waited for her to launch. Once she made her move they would follow.

_"I always knew from the very first moment I saw you that you were destined for greater things."_ She felt him with her once again, Uzumi.

"And I always knew that you would be here with me," she replied turning on her machine, "every step of the way."

* * *

As the Black Gundam fought him it also took time to completely destroy ORB mobile suits, taking advantage of Yaro's sudden decrease in performance.

Not this time. His seed intensified as Yaro saw the faces of all those he fought for now and now he no longer fought his winning companion, his anger. This pilot was fighting in a way that wasn't right and he wasn't going to allow her to be here on the battlefield any longer.

Suddenly Yaro's speed increased as he attacked the Gundam now full on.

"Now this is the person I wanted to fight," she said with a laugh, "the invincible Dreamer, time to die!"

* * *

Athrun was fighting a unit when suddenly a blast came from the sky above him and completely destroyed it. He looked up in shock as he saw a very large Gundam float down like an angel into the battlefield. He was shocked, if it came from above that could only mean one thing, it was a Clyne faction unit.

"Hello Uncle," he was surprised when the faces of Leyas and Trey appeared on the screen in front of him, "do you like the Clyne faction's newest weapon? The Sword of the Freedom." He wasn't too surprised by the name, Leyas was a lot like Kira and she should pilot a machine that was like him somehow. This was no time to question what they were doing here. They had to get int the battlefield. Before he could give them orders they were fighting off PLANT mobile suits in a way he did not expect. Somehow the team was strong together and he was happy that they had come.

"Just remember everything I taught you," Trey said to reassure Leyas, this was her first time on the battlefield after all, "I'm here don't worry! We're going to make it out of this alive."

"I know," Leyas replied, "and I trust you Trey." It was words enough to motivate him. She had been the first one to condemn him on his arrive and now she was the one that trusted him the most out of them all. They had grown close in the past few weeks and the two would not easily be taken down for they fought together strongly. Stronger than anyone would have predicted.

* * *

"Lady Cagalli there is a shuttle approaching," a commander said, "It came with that new Clyne faction unit." Cagalli's heart skipped a beat as she thought of the possibilities.

"Let them in of course," they listened to her commands and before it even entered she ran toward the doors and waited as it landed and watched in amazement as it was indeed the person she thought it was. Her brother had come to help them, against the odds and without any mobile suit he had still come.

"Kira!" She yelled running to him. He hugged his little sister.

"You knew that I would be here," he said to her with a laugh, "there was no way I was going to let you fight this out on your own. We've always fought together Cagalli!" She smiled at him.

"Any longer and you might have been too late," Cagalli said leading him to the control room, "we've been loosing more ground than we should be at this stage even though Athrun planned some pretty elaborate stunts with Yaro which have set the enemy back some but not enough it seems." Kira nodded.

"And how is Yaro?" Kira asked remembering his son's disposition the last time he had seen the boy.

"He's had his ups and downs," Cagalli responded thinking about his outbursts, "but he has turned the tide for ORB so much in so many ways. Somehow he's become so strong but he was getting to reckless and angry so Athrun talked to him. I believe Athrun got through to him because he has been obedient today and as a result he has been even stronger." Kira was glad to hear it, Athrun always did have a way of speaking in terms of war that anyone could understand, though it was hard to believe that Yaro was strong enough to keep up a calm disposition. They made it to the control room when they saw it on the screens.

"Lady Cagalli!" one of the officers said, "we might loose the Dreamer! That black machine is beating Yaro!" Kira felt an urgency at the sight, he wasn't going to let his son die.

"Cagalli where is the Justice?" he asked.

"You'll never make it in time," someone said.

* * *

"No longer," Meiko said as she felt it, "it's not going to happen!"

* * *

Yaro fought on trying to keep the upper hand on this machine but he realized he was loosing. This couldn't happen, not now! ORB had to win this battle. He called on his seed over and over again feeling his anger coursing through him. The pilot before him was watching him so carefully and predicting the pattern of his moves. Somehow she was beating him. Somehow she was winning and he couldn't understand how.

"NO!" Yaro yelled fighting on as more and more anger flowed in him, "I will not fall here! I have to fight on! I have to protect them!"

* * *

"You can't have him!" Meiko yelled at the top of her lungs as the Phoenix charged.

* * *

Yaro wasn't sure what happened but the black Gundam that had been before him was gone and in it's place was a Red and Orange machine that looked like a firebird. It was so majestically unlike anything he had ever seen before.

* * *

"The Phoenix," Milady said with a grin, "the ultimate power, now unleashed!"

* * *

**So I just checked some stats on this story and a sad thing has happened. My reviews and hits have begun to steadily decline as people are loosing interest in my story. I don't understand why this has happened but I want to let you know that I plan on continuing the story as best I can but sometimes it's hard to have inspiration for a story when less and less people are reading it all the time.**

**Now I wish to say Happy New Years for real this time and tell all of those who are still with me that I am really grateful to you! I write this story for anyone who is willing to continue to read it and it really does help when people respond to it. This year I have made more progress with it than the year before and I am confident that if my inspiration continues I will probably be able ot finish this story by the end of next year. Thank you so much to all who have reviewed at all this year, you have all inspired me in one way or another. I assure those of you who are still there that I don't plan on backing down on this story. There are more plots and reveals to come, I just hope I have you all with me when you do! Thanks and Happy New Years.**

**Gear up for the next Phase because it is called "Phoenix: She Shall Rise Again" for a reason. This is the moment I have been waiting for, the return of Meiko!**

**Please Review this chapter and let me know how I am doing! Every review is valued!**  
**-WinterChill**


	37. Phoenix: She shall rise again

**While I am on winter break I might as well take advantage of it. I've been writing like crazy! Things are progressing smoothly now. Enjoy this next chapter those of you who are still with me!**

**Phase 35: Phoenix: She shall rise again**

* * *

Frederick Turnal stood before the officials of the NEA now and they had all just agreed to again stay out of the affairs between ORB and the PLANTs. It was something he regretted doing but it could not be helped. They all knew that right now there was a large battle going on between the two forces and it was common knowledge at this point that everyone expected ORB to loose. This was something that they all knew would be devastating upon the world should it happen but they also understood what greater forces were at work. Jayley Lired was not the only enemy they had to worry about there was ROW and someone else. At the moment NEA forces were spread thin fighting ROW on their own borders, though they wished they could aid ORB there were no spare troops to send.

Something else weighed in Turnal's mind as well, some idea that had began to possess him when the NEA officials had taken a private meeting with the PLANT council, these people were being controlled by someone else. He began to see that the plot against ORB was more elaborate than he had first realized and he was worried that there was some other force behind Jayley's sudden rise to power.

He left the council room quickly as they were all dismissed and he was followed by the woman who was his right hand in affiars of the state. She was a specially trained operative of the NEA and she knew him well, Sherri Sithe.

"Somethings troubling you," Sherri said as they walked together down the hall. He knew he couldn't really hide it from her even if he wanted too. He was troubled by so many events. He had originally thought that ROW was behind Jayley but now he believed that perhaps they were victims of her whims as well. There was clearly something wrong with that woman but it seemed no one else saw what he saw. her ability to lie to the world was uncanny and he strongly believe someone had to be backing her for her to be so influential.

"It's just with everything that's happened," he began turning to Sherri, "I don't believe that we can stay out of everything much longer. ROW needs to be defeated yes and we don't want to start a war with the PLANTs for fear of causing another valentine war but I can't see us being allowed to sit back and protect our own borders any more. We need strength Sherri but we're not getting it. I am beginning to see that perhaps while we have been scared of ROW all this time something else has begun to infiltrate us. Call me paranoid but when I look into the eyes of my own council members I see that some of them have other goals. I don't know what to so with this situation, they are elected by the people so there is really nothing I can do but hope I am wrong." She looked at him and understood, she too had begun to suspect that ROW wasn't the only enemy of peace that they would have to face, just the most known one.

"But if that's the case then we could be in even bigger problems than we are now," she responded to him with her own musings, "I can't see this alliance of nations not becoming a war zone if everything persists. We're trying so hard to keep ROW out, perhaps we should pull out of those nations that they are affecting and reign our borders in tighter." He didn't agree with this, he didn't want to let ROW win any more ground but they needed strength and the longer they waited to try and obtain it the weaker they were becoming.

"We need more troops," he said, "more forces! We need more power if we are to keep up with where the world is headed." She didn't understand this.

"What are you suggesting we do about it?" she asked him.

"Perhaps the only route to take is to ally with the PLANTs," he said as his thoughts heightened to a realization.

"We can't do that!" Sherri protested, "we'd be fighting ORB!"

"Not a military alliance," he responded to her, "an agreement of clemency, a way to bide our time. We need them to view us as a conquered area and not as a threat." Sherri looked at him confused, "don't you see? We will be used as a pawn in someone's game if we don't do something the world won't expect! We have to discover who our enemies are and until we do we have to protect our people!"

"But allying with the PLANTs and with Jayley will most certainly turn ORB's eyes to us!" Sherri said.

"If ORB even exists tomorrow," Turnal replied to her, "they are not out concern because they might fall now and if they do then we have to one else to protect us. We are on our own in this as they are and we must find a way to beat our enemies at their own games." He knew now that he was on the right track in what to do.

"Then how go about this?" she asked.

"You're a coordinator," he said with that voice that she understood as him planning something, "we have to get you up there once we make the alliance. We have to know what it is they are planning and we have to stop them." He was sure now that they had been tricked. Jayley knew what she was doing, she was growing in power while every else was focused on ROW. He also knew that Redemption was getting closer and closer to finding a way to destroy ROW and if that small organization succeeded then the last enemies of peace would be those who were working with Jayley. He had to take measures to stop them and he realized now that this was his reason for being alive and his destiny.

* * *

"You can't have him!" Meiko yelled at the top of her lungs as the Phoenix charged. Everyone who saw it was amazed, this machine had come out of nowhere with one of the most reckless moves they had ever seen. The machine rammed into the black gundam throwing it back twenty feet, an unheard of feat then it's engines stopped as if it was standing between the Dreamer and the strange black gundam.

All turned to see what had entered the battlefield and the firebird shined and sparkled as the first time in the day the clouds parted before it. Meiko felt a light shining forth from her own soul as surely as a light shined down from heaven upon her. She felt joy as she smiled and anger within her for what that Gundam had tried to do to Yaro. She watched now as the machine had the audacity to get back up and face her. Did that obscure thing think that it was anywhere near strong enough to handle the might of the Phoenix? Her eyes were coy as she turned to the battlefield before her, she had a moment. She targeted everything she could and with one blast unleashed a large amount of firepower into every PLANT unit around her causing them to all explode in front of those who were fighting them. She then turned and caught a beam with her sheild and sent it flying back toward the ship it came from.

At this point the Black Gundam reached her and she met it's attack move for move, predicting everything this trivial pilot tried to do and countering it with strength. She smiled as she could see right through the Gundam's feeble attempts.

* * *

Yaro couldn't fathom who had come to save him nor what it's intentions were but instantly the strange new machine had taken over the battlefield and all eyes were upon it waiting for it to make a move. He thought about backing up the machine but he knew that whoever was piloting it had the battle well in hand. There was really nothing more for him to do about it. He turned back, Athrun would be ready for Stage 8 now, perhaps they were still following his tactics.

* * *

Kira launched the Justice into the battlefield and immediately fought to disarm the mobile suits around him, they were getting far to close to the command base and Cagalli. He had come out here to save Yaro originally, but he like everyone else had seen the new mobile suit that had taken over the skies it was then that his seed burst and he felt something else there too. There was another force.

* * *

"Athrun!" he heard Cagalli's voice, she had seen it too and all the weary ORB soldiers saw it as well, a mass of ships appearing on the horizon and quickly moving toward the battlefield, attacking the PLANT fleet.

"I know," Athrun said to her looking on in wonder.

"Who is it?" Cagalli asked.

"I have no idea!" Athrun exclaimed as he could only watch.

* * *

"Attention all ORB and PLANT forces," she knew all of them could see her now as Milady Redemption appeared with her masked face before the world, "the machine you see before you now is the Phoenix, you have right to fear it for it is a force to be reckoned with. However, to the ORB forces we are you allies, Redemption and we have come to fight along side you as we should have long ago. To the PLANTs, you have followed a fool, a woman who cares not for you but for her own selfish ideals, a woman who was once a part of ROW and who now is taking action to destroy Lacus Clyne and forever end the peace that this world deserves! Our answer to this, you will be taken down, for we are here to execute justice and you are on the side of wrong."

Kira was shocked at the broadcast, Redemption had stayed back watching in the shadows for so long yet now they were here and he was sure Yzak was with them. His suspicions were confirmed when he saw the Honor flying into the battle along with the other Redemption mobile suits. Kira was not going to let them take over the battlefield by themselves, no he was a part of this too.

He quickly fought off machine after machine until he and the Honor were fighting together. He had to speak to Yzak about this even though the battlefield was no place for their talk.

"Kira Yamato I presume," Yzak said with a smile appearing on his radio as the two fought together amidst the wave of fresh PLANT forces that had been sent to counteract the new Redemption forces. So Yzak had recognized his fighting style despite the fact that he was now in the Justice.

"Yzak," Kira affirmed, "I knew it was you! What are you all doing here now?"

"You see we have found a warrior to lead our charge," Yzak responded referring to the fire colored Gundam that now tore through the skies only twenty feet away from them with her mobile suit completely wrapped around the black one trapping it in a death lock. Kira's eyes filled with shock at what that pilot had done to the machine in such a short time.

"He's going to destroy that Gundam!" Kira responded, "that's the one that's been giving us all so much trouble!"

"A gundam sent to destroy the Dreamer," Yzak said to him surprising Kira, "that machine's target was Yaro and I'm sure if you fought it you'd be able to beat it as well, but our Phoenix wanted to do it for you. She is very headstrong after all." So the pilot in the machine was a girl, this was not that much of a shock to Kira but he had automatically assumed that Redemption's finest warrior would be a boy.

"Once that Gundam is down be vigilant," Yzak said to Kira, "this battle's not won yet!"

* * *

Meiko fired her weapons all at once releasing the Phoenix's hold on the Black Gundam and swiftly jumping back as many of the machine's functions changed. She smiled as the pilot seemed angry. The pilot was not as fresh on the battlefield as Meiko but Meiko knew she herself would have a time limit to get things done. She had been recovering for a little over a month from a giant explosion and coordinator or not she wasn't exactly in the mood to fight a battle that dragged out like so many had a tendency to do.

"I won't let you beat me!" the girl in the other machine yelled to her, "show me your hatred! Fight me like he did! I want to see your anger!" So this pilot was trying to provoke her enemies to weakness. Meiko didn't loose her cool dodging the machines attempts to attack.

"You've just show me yours," Meiko said to her in a calm voice, "now it's time to show you the true power that I have. For I am more than I have ever been before and no little mobile suit pilot like you can stop me." It was then that Meiko invoked something within her machine and a large blast was sent forward busting through the defenses of the black machine and destroying all of it's weapons and cameras leaving it completely defenseless. Meiko smiled at this and she was of a mind to end this girls miserable life but that would prove nothing at this point so Meiko jetted off into the battlefield disabling and destroying mobile suits as she went. It was then that she started fighting mutiple suits at once, a strong force of veterans that backup came her way in the form of the Justice.

She knew that Athrun Zala was fighting in a new mobile suit called the Truth so she wondered who this was now that was fighting with her.

"Who are you?" the pilot asked her and she was shocked to see that it was Kira Yamato with whom she was now fighting alongside. This brought back memories of the battle with the STING, the two had made an excellent team in the past and now she realized that together they could end this battle.

"I am the Phoenix," she responded to him forcing her voice to deepen to disguise herself. All he could see was a black helmet with a black shield that hid her face, it was tinted for this reason. He couldn't see who it was he was talking with but she seemed to want to keep it that way. "You will do nicely," she said with a smile he could not see, "let's save ORB, Kira Yamato." So she knew who he was but he had no idea how.

* * *

Kiran was fighting a machine when suddenly Yaro flew by and disarmed it along with Trey and Leyas. He missed having the battles to himself, now that his siblings were getting involved he was getting less and less disarms to his credit.

"I can't believe it's you in there," Leyas said to him with a smile.

"Focus Leyas!" he heard Trey yell as they fought another enemy together. Well Kiran was happy that at least Leyas was with someone, not facing a battle alone. A double piloted mobile suit, and a nice one at that. She wouldn't be able to handle piloting a single mobile suit alone, and Trey was probably doing most of the work now. Yaro said nothing as he backed his siblings up and checked his weapons systems. They were getting worn down from the constant fighting that he had been doing for hours and the recharge on his arm weapons was going slowly.

The Dreamer had been built for the defense of ORB and as such it was one of the biggest projects in Morganrate history. When Yaro questioned why Athrun wouldn't be getting this machine, Athrun affirmed that he thought it would be better to place it's power in someone elses hands. It had a positron cannon with as much firepower as a ship and within each arm there was a special weapon developed for this machine using the theory behind Nuclear power. The ORB scientists had developed a reaction of gas elements that had triggered a different kind of energy which somehow completely stopped nuclear power generators. The effect was temporary in disabling a machine for about twelve to thirty hours depending on the amount of energy exposed. They also discovered that the energy blast could dissolve any nuclear blast as well. A weapon that was truly powerful.

Now Yaro wished he had that weapon, if he had enough to take out the whole fleet things would have been better. Now they were fighting. He saw Trey and Leyas fighting a machine and intervened sending a shot into the machines camera before flying to meet up with Athrun who was fighting alongside Shinn.

"I just got a transmission from Kira," Athrun said to Yaro as he approached, "he is going in with the Phoenix to capture the command ship, we are to disarm as many ships as we can. We have backup from our own fleet as well as the Redemption fleet." Yaro agreed to the plan and they set out to do it.

* * *

Yzak fought his way through the battlefield trailing Shinn, Athrun and Yaro as they broke through the enemy lines. Meiko had apparently cleared a path and now the Justice and the Phoenix were fighting together, it was so different than the last time Kira and Meiko were side by side. This time she was free and Liene was not there, in fact no one around knew that it was her.

"Athrun," he contacted the Truth as he destroyed a unit that came close to his old friend.

"Yzak?" Athrun was momentarily shocked when he remembered that Kira had told him that Yzak had ended up in Redemption, of course he was here with them now. Old friends reunited.

"You guys can catch up later we've got to finish this," Athrun almost laughed as Shinn interrupted them and they all jumped into the battle surrounding a PLANT ship. Yaro immeditatly started disarming the guns when an idea rushed through his head. He broke formatino shocking the veterans and swooped to the back engines of the ship dodging fire as he went. It was as he suspected the line was perfect and one good shock could end the movement for multiple ships at once.

"Cover me Athrun!" he called for his uncle and Athrun immediately saw what his plan was. Yaro shifted in his machine as it transformed to cannon mode and there he let off a large shot which broke through the engines of five ships in an instant, disabling their movement. Athrun smiled at Yaro's determination. The boy seemed alright this time.

It was then that Athrun realized he had thought this too soon. After the engines were shot Yaro instantly transformed back and broke formation swooping down the battlefield toward something. Things had just been going good and now they were certain to turn.

* * *

Mobile suits swarmed around the Minerva as Meyrin shouted orders for her crew. It was then that Kiran had come to help them because he had realized their dire state of affairs but Meyrin began to realize that there were too many for Kiran to beat on his own, he needed help and now Ceveris was too injured to go out there and help.

"Kiran!" Alicesia yelled to her best friend, "you need to call for backup! The Minerva's port engines are damaged and you can't stop them all by yourself!" But he did not respond to her as he fought on trying to hold back the forces that were coming at his ship. He had been with this ship for a long time now, and he had fought alongside these people. His mobile suit was called the Courage because that is what he needed to have in him now, Courage to stand against his enemies. He would not allow his friends lives to end, not today. He would rather die than watch them die. His power levels were getting critically low as his mobile suit was not as advanced as the other ones and he was beginning to feel the sway and fear of battle coming over him. He had to hold out, he knew that he had to.

* * *

Anger filled Yaro as he swooped in front of Kiran's beaten down mobile suit blocking a shot that would have been the end of his brother. It seemed that he had arrived just in time, the Courage's power had just failed. Yaro let out a shout of rage as he let go of his control fighting and destroying every unit around the ship.

"GET INSIDE KIRAN!" Yaro yelled at his younger brother. Kiran did not like what he saw now, the darkness had returned to Yaro's eyes and the contorl he had been trying to show throughout the battle had been slowly wearing down.

Yaro began to realize that he was loosing the battle with his anger earlier, then Tripp's life had been taken. There was no time to mourn on this battlefield but he wasn't going to sit back now. His brother's life had just been placed in the balance and so many other things were about to occur. The PLANTs had overstepped their bounds in coming here. They were trying to destroy all the people that Yaro cared about and the people that he had sworn to protect with his life. But it wouldn't take his life and he knew it as the blue glow filled his cockpit and he launched into the battlefield now fighting to destroy.

* * *

"Does he ever listen to your commands," Yzak asked as the three Veterans continued attacking the ships.

"What!" Athrun lifted his eyes in shock. The rain was falling down again and thunder and lighting crashed as the whole battlefield saw it. Yaro had taken his anger and now he was fighting as he had at the outposts, with passion and anger leaving massive devastation in his wake. The darkness had taken him over again, all the careful planning and talks Athrun had taken the time to have with him had not changed anything; something within Yaro was breaking forth once again and if it was this prevalent, was it even possible to stop it?

* * *

It was as if she felt it coming on, a dread within her heart as she fought alongside Kira working their way back through the enemy forces. This fight together had proved very much like their last one, no one could stop them as they fought side by side. The war hero and the Phoenix but something inside Meiko's heart tugged at her emotions now and begged her to see what was coming.

They both saw it, her and Kira saw as Yaro broke the seed in his mind to fight in the rage that he felt from those who would dare attack the people that he cared about. She felt darkness radiating from him and she began to feel guilt, because she knew now that she was the one who had brought on this darkness, because she couldn't save Uzumi and because she had chosen the path of attempting suicide to save him. Everything she had done had been for him and now she saw the results of it all.

"Yaro!" Kira exclaimed. His son had been angry the last time he had seen him but what he saw in Yaro was different. The things he was doing on the battlefield and the darkness that was unleashed. This was not something the boy had been raised in and seeing it here broke something in Kira he didn't realize he had. His seed glowed and his eyes glowed as he watched the boy he had raised fight the way he was. Meiko could somehow feel Kira's energy growing at the sight of Yaro and she knew what she had to do though doing it alone placed her in more risk. Even so she was the one who was really responsible for everything that was taking place with Yaro now and she was going to be the one to save him.

"Go Kira," she prodded him, "just make sure that he gets out of this alive!" She noticed the PLANT forces were starting to target Yaro as their commander realized he was now causing the most damaged. Kira needed no more prodding from her as he flew through the battlefield toward his son.

"You can do this Meiko!" She saw the face of her mother on her radio screen now. No doubt Milady had caught everything that was going on. Meiko nodded to her and drew her weapons showing them to her enemies as she flew through the mass of ships and mobile suits disarming and destroying as she went. She cared not for what she was doing but she fought with a control that was unmatched by the PLANT solider's vain passion.

She flew over the mass of ships and came to the one she knew was the flagship. She began destroying it's weapons systems rapidly and she knew they would not be able to keep up.

* * *

Verria sat there in shock as the the new machine tore apart the defenses of the large ship. She began ordering mobile suit teams to back her up but this machine was unstoppable as it disabled mobile suits quickly. Verria began to realize that Redemption had garnered the winning pieces, and now she had lost this battle.

* * *

Yaro tried to fight it off but it had taken over him, the dark anger that was in his heart. He hated these people for how they were fighting his family and threatening those that he loved. He was not going to stand by and let it happen any longer.

"Damn you alll!" he yelled firing at anything that moved. It was then that a red mobile suit came into sight and before he could fire on it he got a transmission.

"YARO! It's me, it's your father!" Kira yelled as he dodged a shot that came from Yaro's mobile suit. The voice Yaro knew as well as the face, the man that had raised him. Somehow he couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Kira Yamato, his father hadn't abandoned them after all. He was here. Suddenly his anger faded as tears filled his eyes at the new revelation and he began to realize what he had just done and what he had done so many times while fighting for ORB.

"Father," Yaro said as more tears flowed from his eyes and exhaustion began to overwhelm him. The Justice took hold of the limp Dreamer and began to fly it toward the Archangel which was fighting nearby. It was then that a broadcast interrupted the entire battlefield.

* * *

"You are beaten Jayley Lired," a girls voice said broadcasting to the battlefield and to every radio on the continent, Meiko knew this transmission would get to the PLANTs as she spoke surely. No video just audio.

"I have here your flagship, and your general Verria," Meiko continued, "all forces are being commanded to stand down as we speak, I have arranged it with your general here in exchange for her life and the lives of her remaining forces. She will be granted leave on the condition that you inform ORB of your surrender and the end of this pointless war with them. If these terms are not met and you still wish to continue this war with ORB I will not hesitate to destroy this flagship and the rest of your Damned fleet. You see that the Redemption troops have cut off there escape and with the superiority of our machines to yours I have no doubt that you will loose everything in this battle should you allow it to persist."

Everyone was shocked at what this girl was saying. She was threatening one of the largest militaries in the world, the PLANT forces would be dented by this loss if they lost this entire fleet. She could weaken the whole nation if Jayley refused, but it was as if she knew Jayley was going to say yes. Milady held her breath as she understood Meiko now, either way the girl would let them go but Jayley had to believe she would not which is why Meiko had taken lives this day. It was a terrible tactic but it was effective and the war with ORB would end buying Redemption and Meiko the time they needed to execute their next plan.

"You must give your answer within the next thirty minutes," Meiko said, "for we can't stall this battle for long. Would you like to see many more lives taken in a war that should have never taken place or will you find your humanity and surrender?"

* * *

Jayley was completely shocked at the broadcast before her. This girl had just stood between her and victory, one little girl! She had beaten Gera and taken many of the PLANT soliders lives with her. Everything was going smooth before she had arrived. How could someone like this exist in the world? The impudence of this brat made Jayley angrier than she had ever been in her entire life.

"NO!" Jayley yelled and the PLANT council was shocked by her outburst, "Who does she think she is to challenge us?"

"We have to give into her demands," one of the council members said with a heavy heart, he had actually believed they had won this one, "she has us completely cornered, to refuse her would be allowing the massacre of our troops! This is impossible! I can't believe that Redemption could turn the tide of one battle so much!" It was uncanny! Jayley stared at the machine and wondered where Rayla had found this girl and this machine when suddenly images flashed through her mind. Comparisons of everything that had taken place, the girls voice, attitude, rage, fighting style and everything that she could gather in that moment matched. The willful stubborn Meiko was dead, and yet this phantom bore so many similarities with her! Had Rayla had another child or was the girl that was threatening her now Meiko Virea returned from the dead.

"She's bluffing!" Jayley said turning to the council thinking about who Meiko was and if it was indeed her the girl would never take the lives of so many, "she won't destroy them! We have to refuse! We have to keep fighting ORB!"

"If we do that we risk the image of the people," another council member said in protest, "We will be portrayed forever as the council that chose war over so many lives, we will have betrayed our own people regardless of whether or not this girl is lying. She has us in a corder Jayley, certainly you see that! There is no way to refuse her!" Jayley slammed both her hands down.

"Tell the world we knew her bluff?" Jayley questioned, "we can't let her get away with this!"

"She just did!" Another member declared.

* * *

Cagalli was shocked as she watched the transmission along with the world, the PLANTs declaration of surrender because of a tactic that Cagalli and the others would have never dreamed of using. Redemption had just risked everything by threatening to destroy the PLANTs whole ground force with that transmission. Such a move would have sparked the hatred of so many coordinators but somehow the effect had worked and Jayley was now before them all surrendering.

"We will surrender this war," Jayley said to the public, "we will end the war in ORB in exchange for our hostages. We will not allow so many lives of our nation to be taken in the pursuit of war."

* * *

Meiko sighed in relief as she watched the PLANT fleet leave. They had been given a few hours to clear out and the Redemption and ORB fleets watched in awe as the Phoenix oversaw their leaving.

"You did well Meiko," Milady said to her daughter via transmission.

Meiko floated there a little longer when she noticed another mobile suit beside hers, it was the Truth. Athrun Zala was watching them leave as well, probably in awe and gratitude for how she had just saved his nation. In her heart it was a just move, a way to atone for not saving his son on the last battle they both fought.

"Who are you?" she saw Athrun's face on her screen as he was in awe of what this single girl had just accomplished.

"I am simply Phoenix," Meiko said to him not allowing him to see her face either, "nothing more, nothing less."

"Then thank you Phoenix," Athrun said expressing himself. For this was something he knew his nation and the world would never forget.

* * *

Liene's eyebrows raised as he read the report of what had taken place in ORB. Redemption had showed up and one of their warriors had single handedly ended the entire war. It was uncanny and so different from what he would have expected from anyone following Rayla, to reckless and risky to have been ordered by that woman; no whoever was behind this scheme was stronger than his old companion and he had no doubt he would have to face this pilot as well if Redemption persisted. He had finally found a formidable enemy.

"How are the advancements going?" Liene asked as Mike entered the room.

"Everything is on schedule," Liene smiled at this. Mike was performing his role still staying on the good side of ROW. Right now he was useful but that was about to expire, for there was something else Liene noticed about this enemy. He was going to get his hands on the tape of her transmission to put his mind to rest but as he kept thinking about it he began to see it more and more clearly. He didn't have much time left now. His ever crafty mind knew what actions Milady would take next and he understood what that meant for him and for his organization but he knew she wouldn't expect how ready he would be fore her. Mike saw something in Liene's eyes that he didn't understand but he knew it struck fear into his heart.

* * *

Yaro tossed and turned and Kira sat beside him as the doctors had said he was fine just exhausted. He had been fighting through every hour of the battle and at the very end he lost control. A tear slipped from Kira's eyes as he tried to think of what his son had been going through down here without him. He had left the boy to his own feeling that it was time for Yaro to make his own mistakes, perhaps that was the worst move he had made because he had left Yaro in suffering.

Kira had called Lacus after the battlefield and she had assured him that there was nothing he could change now and that it was going to be alright. She had faith that he could help Yaro get through this but he couldn't see how. The little boy he had raised was destroyed the day he stepped into a mobile suit and it was confirmed when he had lost Uzumi and Meiko. Kira had thought that he had gotten past everything but now he saw that it was his own mistake in not really understanding the heartache Yaro was going through. Every strength Yaro had was a mask that disguised the problem and because of that he was being taken over from within. He cursed himself for not seeing it till now.

"Kira," he turned to see Athrun enter. His friend had tried to help Yaro but Athrun wasn't responsible for this, no Kira now believed that he himself was the only one who could be blamed for not helping his own son but abandoning him to his own rebellion. He had only seen Yaro's darkness as rebellion and nothing more.

"I can't believe I allowed this to happen," Kira said wiping a few tears from his eyes and standing up from where he sat. Yaro continued to toss and turn as nightmares of the darkness filled his mind. "I was so sure that he would figured things out on his own that I didn't realize that all he wanted was for me to understand and to help him get through this. He had never lost anyone before and right when he did I thought he was strong enough to get through it on his own, I didn't realize what it would cause. " Athrun nodded, he hadn't realized either. They were both so used to the realities of war that they understood what it meant to pick themselves up after something tragic occurred. IT had never corssed their minds that Yaro would not be able to do this, but then again they should have thought back to the day they lost their first friends to the grimness of war. It near destroyed them from within but they let it all out, Yaro still claimed he had put it behind him.

"You can't blame yourself anymore," Athrun responded, "we all made the same mistake in this, I noticed it but I waited till too late to do something about it. I believe that what I did helped him but I am not sure why it didn't last very long." Kira was very grateful to Athrun for what he had done but he was still mad at himself, this was his own job. Yaro was adopted but in Kira's mind he was still his son and he loved him as much as his other children, seeing him suffer like this took it's toll on him.

"Well now I have to find someway to help him get through this," Kira said trying to think of how, he had always had someone to help him through the dark then he left Yaro alone for so long.

"He knows he's not alone in this Kira," It was as if Athrun had read his thoughts as he spoke his next words, "he knows that we are here for him every step of the way, he just has to let go of the past. He was worried that you wouldn't understand, just show him that you do and I am sure that everything will fall into place, he seeks your approval above all." Kira nodded now and Athrun hoped he got him to understand.

"I will have to be completely honest with him about everything in the past," Kira responded thinking through things, "perhaps the problem is that I never let him know the truth about the past."

"We can't wallow in that now," Athrun said thinking of the reason he had come here now, "Yaro will awaken soon and when he does you can speak with him. Right now we have important matters to discuss, the ORB council met and decided to accept Redemption but Cagalli is uneasy. We are meeting to discuss their motives. Please come Kira, I believe Lacus says you can speak for the Clyne faction in matters such as these."

"She will be arriving here soon," Kira said, "I asked her to come down and she said she would." Athrun nodded, he was glad for Lacus would be able to help Kira through this more than anyone else could.

* * *

Lacus breathed in as Kayla followed he through the halls of a small ship, they couldn't attract attention to themselves so they had decided not to bring the Eternal. Lacus was just running a final inspection. She was thinking about Yaro and everything Kira had told her. She knew Kira blamed herself as she blamed herself but she also knew that it didn't help to wallow in self pity. Yaro was old enough that she would have expected him to be able to handle himself but she knew that he had taken everything harder than the rest of them.

"Worry will get us nowhere mother," Kayla said a if reading her mothers thoughts, "i warned him, so he knew this could happen. Just stay strong and I am sure we can bring him out of this." Lacus nodded at her youngest daughter, she hoped the girl was correct.

* * *

"They came to help us," Cagalli said, "but that doesn't change the fact that they put so much on the line with their actions! The pilot of the Phoenix held a PLANT fleet hostage almost singlehandedly, I am sure Jayley was not happy about that! Think about how the world saw her actions! It was a violation of humanity to even threaten to take that many lives!" Athrun tried to calm Cagalli down as Shinn whispered something to Luna. Kira looked around at the familiar faces of his comrades, Mu and Murre were there as well. He near laughed when he saw Shinn and Luna holding hands, it was about time those two made up. He turned back to the matter at hand. He had fought alongside the Phoenix during the battle and he saw that the pilots antics were bold, reckless and effective all at the same time. She fought without fear and she knew what it was she was doing; she had commanded a nation and ended a war.

"The fact is Cagalli we can't look back on what they did because it's over," Kira said with a sigh, "and this girl who fronted the assault ended an entire war. Who knows what would have happened if that battle continued without her being there. We have to thank them for what they have done for us."

"But we have to ask them why as well," Shinn spoke up, "I have a strange feeling that their motives weren't just to end this war. They are an anti ROW force and they're coming here makes little sense unless they expect us to aid them in return for the aid they gave to us."

"Yes I suspect that is the case as well," Murrue said, "but I also suspect that they had another reason to come."

"What reason?" Luna asked, she was confused by their presence as well.

"To save ORB," Kira replied thinking it through, "as they have done, for ORB is one of the last safeguards of this world and to let it fall would be a reckless move on their part. I do agree with Shinn that they want something in return but we will never know until we ask them and the fact remains that the Phoenix let them here but it didn't bear their banner nor fight with their forces. That machine was like a one man army making it's decisions alone. I don't think Redemption planned on her doing what she did." It was that that puzzled them all, who was it that could fight like that then make such a huge decision as to call the PLANTs into answering on the spot.

"She claims her name is Phoenix," Athrun said thinking it through, "she is hiding behind a mask and not revealing her true identity."

"You talked to her Kira," Luna said turning to Kira, "Who do you think she is? Have we encountered her before." Kira had not really thought about it much, he had been focuse on Yaro through the end of the battle till now, he hadn't really thought about the pilot in the strange fire mobile suit.

"I haven't really thought about it much," Kira responded slowly, "but she knew who I was and I just felt like I knew her for some reason, as if I had fought beside her before."

"That's odd," Mu said trying to make sense of it, he had never seen anyone fight the way that girl fought, it was so different in style and so fascinating. She left behind all feelings and technical reasoning yet somehow she was so very effective.

"By the way Luna," Murrue spoke up, "where is Meyrin? I would have thought she wouldn't miss being here."

"Meyrin," Luna shook her head as if she didn't understand her sister, "She stayed behind in the Minerva because Ceveris is hurt."

"Ceveris Matthews?" Kira asked in shock, had had thought that guy had disappeared when Meyrin had dumped him. What was he doing here now?

"He rescued the Minerva when it was MIA and came back with them," Mu responded filling him in. Kira laughed at that then everyone else followed. Meyrin had been so stubborn about him,it was hard to believe she would just accept him back but hard times called for desperate measures.

* * *

Meyrin didn't want him to know she was there, so she sat in the shadows waiting for him to awaken. The doctor said he would. She didn't know why she was so worried about him. He had caused her so much pain in the past and he thought that helping her now could atone for it. He was a fool in so many ways but she now saw that she was the greater fool. He had changed so much in his ways and he had submitted himself to fight for ORB because he cared about her, this was something he would have never done in the past. She let a tear escape her eye as she thought about how horrible she had been to him, perhaps now was the time to forgive him and forget everything that had happened in the past.

The world they were in was hard, she didn't know what chances she would have but her heart was now telling her to take a chance for the only man she had ever loved.

"Can I let go long enough to take a breath and say what I mean?" she asked herself.

* * *

**Survivor18 - To answer some of your questions. The person who appears before Yaro is not Gera, but rather something else that will be revealed in the sequel story but I also might touch on it a little nearer to the end of this story. I believe you are the only one who noticed the inconsistencies in Milady's story, that is because she is hiding something else as well from the world and she is still uneasy about revealing her identity to Meiko. She want's Meiko to feel what she has to say within her story but she doesn't really lay out the facts keeping it vague. Part of the reason for this is things that she doesn't want anyone to know and another is that she doesn't believe that her story is inconsistent; it's the truth she's lied to herself about for so long. Like Yzak accused her of being a coward earlier that is what she will continue to be for a little while longer. She is hiding behind her mask and her lies trying not to face herself and the things that she has done before ROW and within the organization as well. Hope that clarifies on her part.**

**Thanks to Byron Lancaster, Fenikkusumaru, Capt Freedom and Survivor18 for reveiwing the last few chapters. You four have been with me for a long time now and I am glad that you are all still around! Thank you for reading and reviewing, your reviews have kept me going over the past six chapters and I suspect they will continue to keep me going!**

**Now Review, review, review! This chapter came fast and I am focused now to get this story to progress for the sake of the new year.**

**And I posted awhile back the openings and endings I would put on this if it were a animated series, now I have the final of those two for you starting this phase. These are the songs attached for the next part of the story till the end.  
**

**Opening: Destiny by Nami Tamaki - This song has an unbeat and hopeful feel to it as well as having lyrics that fit several of the characters. We are entering the final arch of the story as this last arch draws to a close. Now we will see more secrets revealed and more battles to be fought.**

**Ending: M by Ayumi Hamasaki - I have been listening to a lot of Ayu recently and I think that this is my favorite J-pop song in the entire universe. I think it also fits this story and the characters desires at this point in the story. I really relate it to Meiko and to Milady as well. **

**So review! NOW!  
-WinterChill!  
**


	38. The Darkness of the Night

**This phase focuses on the night that comes a few hours after the battle and next phase will bring to light what happens the morning after when Redemption meets with ORB for their first talk. So brace yourselves for a chapter where Meiko will be prevalent. She is the main character after all and I'm so happy to have her back.**

**Phase 36: The Darkness of the Night**

* * *

The darkness of the dead of night filled her being as the world around the Island nation was still. She knew her mother was probably worried about her as in the aftermath of the battle she had completely vanished, choosing to hide in the shadows and wait for cover of darkness for this moment. There was moonlight shining through the trees as she moved swiftly through the graveyard in the center of the ORB capital. She wore a dark hooded cloak which hid the redness of her hair and the face she knew others might recognize.

In her hand was a blue flower as she made it to her destination and she stood at a place where she should have found herself long before this time. Uzumi's grave site was very hard to gaze at as she still felt him with her, it was a reminder that he would never really be there with her the way he had been before as her ever loyal friend. Memories of old times filled her mind as she remembered being in classes with him, wandering ORB with him and Yaro and she remembered fighting him in the simulated mobile suit battle. It had been too close to real for her and then it had been real as she had never wanted it too be. The even twas so unfair to the world that sometimes she could still be found mourning it but not in the same way as before. Then she hated herself for it now she saw that it wasn't really her fault.

She fell to her knees in front of the tombstone and placed the flower on the grave. She saw that hers wasn't the only offering to him, there were others that were recent. She understood that the people of ORB still mourned their lost prince, especially with the battles that were fought in ORB without him there to protect them. He had truly left behind a legacy as one of the most amazing people to ever breathe. Meiko had made her decision for ORB quickly and though it was reckless she knew she had too, because this was Uzumi's home and when talking about a place like this she couldn't afford to stand down for a moment.

A cold wind blew around her as she remembered him rescuing her from her dream where she was in a grave yard very much like this one. A single tear floated down her cheek and she didn't bother brushing it away.

She lifted her head toward the moonlight to stare into the light that wasn't as bright as the sun. She had determined to shine as much light as the moon, enough to see by but not enough to become someone like Kira Yamato or Athrun Zala. No, she had a path very different than theres but she was still determined to be a hero in her own way.

She sat there thinking about everything when she heard the rustling of leaves that did not come from the wind. There was a step and the crack of a twig. Someone had followed her. She reached out with her mind and ears listening to the sounds of the person drawing closer, her training made it possible to determine where exactly they were and to cue in that they had no idea that she knew they were there. She took in a breath as she heard breathing now as the person drew closer. Just one more step.

Meiko was up in a flip to the side and now facing the person head on. He swung at her but she caught his blow with her metal hand causing him to wonder what he had just hit as pain shot up his own hand. She lashed out with a well placed kick but he raised his arms in defense. She was about to draw a weapon when the person spoke.

"Meiko it's me!" she recognized his voice but had never expected to hear it here. She had never expected to hear it again in her life, it was shocking but he had made it out as well and now he was here in ORB. He must have seen her fighting and being the only one with extensive battle experience with her and her tactics he had somehow come to the conclusion that it was her. How had he known? No one else would have survived the odds she did and barely anyone was going to believe it when she did decided to let them all in on her true identify. She should have expected that someone would notice and he was the person she should have expected to believe.

"Trey," she said his name now as she was unsure of herself, she had just gotten used to the idea of fighting beside these people now she was speaking with the friend who had stood by her side for so long. She had betrayed him in so many ways and now the worst of all she felt like she couldn't trust him with the truth. She removed her hood and he saw his suspicions confirmed, he was completely shocked out of his mind that he was in fact right. He didn't understand how it could have happened but when he saw Meiko fighting he just knew it had to be her. He had kept telling himself that there was no way anyone could have survived what she had done to the STING. She had destroyed her mobile suit while she was inside of it next to one of the largest power sources in the world. Kira Yamato was on the outskirts of the explosion and it destroyed his machine. How was it now that she was alive?

"How Meiko?" he asked her, "we all watched you die? I have asked myself how it could be real and I decided if it was you that you would come here tonight and fighting you hand to hand I just knew it was you but I can't understand how." He saw sorrow in her eyes as she turned back toward the moonlight.

"I don't even really understand," she responded to him thinking over the events that had taken place, "but all this time I've had quite a few people watching over and protecting me. I survived the STING explosion thanks to a backup system in my mobile suit that launched me into the outer part of the explosion but even then I should have died. Redemption saved me and they say that it was a power within me that kept me alive."

"How did they know you were still out there?" Trey asked with shock. He was still surprised seeing someone he was sure he would never see again but he couldn't escape the truth that she was real. Meiko was indeed alive and not just a a ghost come to save them.

"Milady Redemption…" Meiko thought about not telling him the truth but she knew he was the only person he could confide in now, and she had missed having him. He was like an older brother to her and now tears flowed from her eyes and thought about it. All this time she had been alive and she had kept that truth from the people she cared about the most, from him and from everyone else. She came back to help them but she had never thought about what they were going through. She knew some of them would feel responsible for the things that took place in the months before, and none of them were. Every choice was her own. Now tears flowed freely.

"Trey I can't I just can't believe you're here," she said jumping and wrapping her arms around him, "I thought for so long that I'd never see you again nor anyone else but you're all here." He hugged her back a little shocked at her outburst, she had indeed changed and it was evident now that something within her was different. For the first time ever he saw that she was at peace with herself.

"I can't believe it either Meiko," he responded as tears flowed from his own eyes, "I was sure that I would never see you again. I put it all behind me and tried not to dwell on it but it kept coming back in my mind." There was no accusation from him about how she kept the truth back in the months, there was just acceptance for he was the one friend she had always had and he was the person she relied on now. He was now the only one who knew the truth and he was the first to believe it. She had survived and she was back to help ORB and to save this world.

"I have so much to tell you," she said as they let go of each other and wiped the tears from their eyes. They went walking now through this grim graveyard both feeling more joy than they had in so long.

"And I have so much to tell you as well," he replied thinking over the post battle attitude around the ORB forces. Everyone was uneasy about what had taken place and the worst thing was that Kira was unable to make an decisions because he was so worried about Yaro. That reminded Trey of the past and he remembered how Yaro and Meiko had been in their last goodbye when she had given him her necklace. Trey stopped and turned to her now with a heavy heart.

"Before anything else is said," he spoke now with a conviction she hadn't heard in a long time, "I have to tell you that Yaro is hurt." It was as if she felt his words as a stab to her own heart.

"Hurt?" she questioned with fear in her eyes, "but I saved him! I stopped that machine and Kira stopped his anger, What happened?"

"We're not entirely sure," Trey responded trying to calm her down, "he is very much alive but he fainted in his mobile suit in the last part of the battle and he hasn't woken since. Kira and Leyas are beside themselves. The doctors says he seems physically fine but whatever they try they can not wake him, they have concluded that his mind is what is hurting." It didn't sound right to Meiko, it reminded her too much of her many nights battling the super seed when it had taken over her being. Milady said she would be out for days sometimes when struck by an attack. These attacks were things that none of them understood and it seemed that as time went on Meiko had less and less of them and now she was completely fine. However she was supposed to be one of the few human beings in the world that had the power of the super seed, was it possible that Yaro possessed it as well?

If that was true and Yaro did have the super seed, could her own seed be enough to heal his? Could she somehow use it again? She had been avoiding it since her time on the Island with redemption because of how it hurt, but she couldn't deny that it was a possibility. There was still so little known about it but they did know that it had healing powers and that the outbursts had been part of the healing process she had gone through and they had connected her to Uzumi after all. Perhaps she could use them now on Yaro.

"It's late," Meiko said turning toward the moon, "is the base sleeping? Is he alone?" Trey didn't know what she was getting at but he did know that if she was willing to help that she might be the only one who could get through to Yaro. He was changing without check and it seemed that no one could really figure out how to help him.

"Yes," Trey responded, "there is no one around." Meiko nodded to him.

"Then get me in there," she said to him, "and no one must know about this." Trey didn't understand that but he respected her wishes.

* * *

He tossed and turned as his mind was on fire with visions of the past and of things he wasn't sure about. He was trapped in these dreams unable to stop them as everything he held dear was being destroyed before his eyes then it appeared again. He found himself unable to fight it but he wouldn't submit to it either. It was terrifying for him to be trapped in this state of visions. He cried out to nothing and he didn't even realize that someone was there.

Meiko removed her hood and Trey watched as she placed a hand on Yaro's forehead. The boy was dripping with sweat and he seemed to be in a feverish state of unrest for he was moving about as if being plagued by a nightmare. Tears once again formed in Meiko's eyes at seeing him, Yaro the one that she had done so much to save was now reduced to such a weak state. She had to end this, she reached her hand out over him and took his hand in hers letting tears flow from her eyes. He was Yaro Yamato, everything she had done was for him and she knew that out of every person in the world there was no one she cared about more for even in his anger she couldn't bring herself to hate him. He had threatened to kill her and her response was to rescue him.

"I'm here," she whispered, "I've fought so long in my mind wondering if this was possible again, and I'm still scared to really face you because you are the one person who can break me." She breathed in reminiscing on everything that happened in the past, "we tried to be friends, to walk together but the dark came and I reached and you weren't there, and everything was wrong! So many nights I saw your face and I knew that you felt the same pain I did. I spent so many nights wondering if I would ever find you again or if you were even alright. I would reach for you and there would be nothing there, so many times and I began to wonder if I would ever see you again! Yaro I need you," Trey was surprised now, Meiko never revealed her feelings about anyone before, she always held it in. "I need you," she felt the seed energy gathering in her mind and she put fear of using it out of her mind as the seed exploded in the back of her mind and she dived into the place where she knew she would be able to grasp some of the super seed's power.

"Live Yaro," she whispered on as a glow filled her eyes and Trey's mouth dropped open, "live please and let these visions go, for they are not reality but your fears and they will destroy you if you hold onto them, live." Meiko then felt it, Yaro's own seed as she touched his hand the dark visions he was seeing began to enter her head. She almost dropped his hand but she knew she needed to hold on as she willed her own seed energy to enter him. She saw now that there was a blue glow under his eyelids and as she fought her own mind it was beginning to fade. She was completely focused as she watched her energy go into him, a counter act as she willed it to heal him not to hurt him as his own was.

Trey was shocked at what was taking place as Yaro's movement's stopped and his limp hand suddenly tightened into a grip around Meiko's hand. She opened her eyes as he had stopped moving and the visions had stopped coming, she had felt his hand wrap around hers but when she looked he was still asleep. She put her loose hand on his forehead again and found that his fever had broken, he was healed.

She turned to Trey and nodded that now was the time she would be leaving. She turned back to Yaro again as more tears flowed from her eyes, he needed rest so she would not wake him; perhaps they would be able to speak in the morning when she made her move. She knew how the others would react and she prayed that Yaro's own reaction would be as hers.

* * *

They walked together in silence and approached her machine. He said nothing after the power he had witnessed coming from her and the words that she had spoken to Yaro, he knew now that her heart was truly free. She was no longer bound by the fear of ROW and the things that might have destroyed her. It was very odd for him to he walking with her when for so long he thought she was dead, he never even had the smallest hope that she could have survived. Her small frame still looked so weak it was hard to believe that such power was behind her, she was stronger than he was and stronger than many others he fought alongside.

"When will you tell everyone the truth?" Trey asked her as they both stared up as the Phoenix, the machine she had used as her mask. She had thought about it, and about everyone deserving to know it was just hard to fathom. How would those people react? She had done many wrong things against them and even in saving them she didn't know how they viewed everything.

"Though I keep wanting to go back on it," she said, "I am sure it will not be long, for as you figured it out someone else might see it as well, then there's Yaro." Trey understood that, she would not hide herself from him. Whatever fear she had of how he would react, he knew she would want to face him more than anyone else. Trey saw her hide some of the fear in her eyes at her own words and he almost laughed about how she didn't understand that Yaro missed her more than anything. Their friendship on earth had been unlikely but as they had talked together and walked together they had been unable to deny the pull that existed between them. It was as if fate had intervened and brought them together once again. He knew how Yaro would react and he knew that everything would be so different once Meiko was back in their lives, not just as the Phoenix but as herself.

"Yaro needs you as well," Trey said to her trying to reassure her, "For so long he's tried to hide everything from those of us who are around him because he was trying to stay strong, but he missed you more than anything."

"Thank you Trey," she whispered in response and turned back toward the Phoenix, "It's hard to think on these things, for my path is one that takes me back onto the battlefield repeatedly. I fear that my path and his run side by side and that he will also be forced into the same pain that I face when I fight."

* * *

"Everything is on schedule," Gilligan said looking at his clip board, "what exactly are you planning?" Liene had been angry for the past two hours and no one really understood what he was planning but every order he shouted. At some moments he seemed very afraid and at others he was calm. Something had definitely changed about their plans, they were more desperate seeming and a new piece of technology was being tested on subjects mercilessly.

"She's mocking me!" Liene suddenly yelled in anger, "The whole theme, the Phoenix! She has laid herself open leaving all the clues there as if we weren't going to connect the pieces and see what it is she is doing! RAYLA FROST! That woman who should have died floating in space and her damned daughter who should have gone with her!" Gilligan raised his eyebrows at this, Rayla Frosts plans had indeed been shocking and very unlike her with holding so many lives hostage. What he didn't understand was Liene's outburst about Rayla's daughter, Gilligan knew this girl to be Meiko Virea, who was now very much dead. She had been in a position that no one in the world could survive, super seeded or not.

"Meiko's dead Liene," he said trying to calm his superior down, "dead and you don't have to fear her."

"NO!" Liene yelled at him, "you didn't see it? You didn't hear it? Her voice was the same, her words just as defiant as ever! The Pilot of the Phoenix, it has to be her, it has to be Meiko!" Gilligan was taken aback by this, it made no sense, no one could have survived that. He wasn't going to believe Liene's ravings now.

"No one could have survived that explosion!" Gilligan insisted, "there is no way it is her! Perhaps Milady has groomed someone to act and fight like her to throw us off, but Meiko is dead!" Liene then shook his head and turned toward a newly developed mobile suit.

"No," Liene said solemnly now, "I don't know why I didn't realize that all this time she was waiting for this. Meiko Virea is now fighting alongside Redemption, our worst fears have been realized but there is still hope that we can defeat her if we finish this equipment. This is the only way to fight the super seed and we are the first to have it. We must be ready for I know Rayla and I know that her next objective will lead her here, to Mars." Liene breathed in, "Meiko's been careless with her identity and I am sure she doesn't care if I find out, there is nothing that I can hold over her head now for if she is with then she is safe. Milady won't let anything happen to her. We must wait for her to come here then she will be alone."

"What are you planning?" Gilligan once again as he saw a spark ignite in Liene's eyes.

"Meiko will come," Liene responded, "and we must let her, for I know Rayla, Maryah; She will not tell the full truth and I will. Meiko must hear everything from my lips. Perhaps there is still a chance we can sway her loyalties." Liene smiled his twisted smile, "and those of Yaro Yamato."

* * *

Fredrick Turnal was shocked at how Redemption had rescued ORB with such insane tactics as they used. This definitely changed things, he was happy that someone was able to save ORB even if he wasn't. He had contacted the PLANTs and made arrangements for an alliance, they were surprised but he didn't link his military into the terms of the agreement. The PLANTs were very compliant after their total defeat and humiliation at the hands on one gundam.

It was still hard for him to fathom how one unit could turn the tide so much, but video footage of that unit had been released and it was truly something special. It had the wings of a bird and it looked like a flame of fire. He wondered where the future would take them if these wars persisted. Now that the PLANTs and the NEA were in peace talks he began to see that maybe the whole would could find a way to work together to dispel the darkness of the factions that were trying to control and twist everything. Perhaps this Phoenix could change the course of the future, and bring about an everlasting peace that will forever exist in the hearts and minds of every person on the earth and in space. Perhaps the dawning of a new age was possible.

* * *

"You failed!" She yelled at the young pilot who sat there so calm and defeated, "you were supposed to destroy him! You were sent out there to destroy that mobile suit! There is no way I want you here anymore, you failure!" Gera seemed to not hear her as the girl was lost in her own feelings about what had taken place, there was no one stronger than her yet that new machine had defeated her so quickly that it was uncanny. She didn't understand it, she had been just about to break the Dreamers defenses with her black gundam which had been created as the ultimate weapon, then out of nowhere she was attacked by something that was entirely too perfect to be real. Whoever piloted that mobile suit was good, really good.

"Don't lash out at her," Jayley felt shock when he heard the voice. She quickly fell in her knees before him as her leader, her father, the great Gryser Cerrian had come here. "You lashing out at her does nothing, when you also made mistakes. You ended a war over a fluke from a girl in a mobile suit. Did you really believe that this new warrior would make her debut in such an darkening way? The Phoenix was truly built so that it could be a power in this world, you didn't have to listen to her, she would have let them go." Jayley trembled at his words, she understood that and she had seen it but had been too weak to act on it. She had played right into their hands and let them win the entire war because she was too weak to force her will upon the PLANT council. She was still playing the game of politics but she shouldn't be loosing because of one girl and one machine.

"Forgive me sir," Jayley said trying to control her anger at herself now, "I know that I was wrong but I was weak."

"I know Jayley," he responded, "so I have arrived now because the next stage of our plan will begin. Now that redemption has resurfaced I am sure that they are going to go to war with ROW, in that case all we have to do is wait for the two to weaken each other. The goal of finding Lacus Clyne is now secondary for I am sure she will come to us before this is all over. We will bide our time and wait."

"Wait for them to come?" Gera asked, she was clearly upset as well, "well answer me this sir, will my mobile suit be better than hers next time? I want to destroy that girl!"

"Don't worry Gera," he replied to her, "that machine will fall, but not by your hand. Your goal is still the Dreamer, for it is that boy who will cause us the most trouble if we let him live. Don't forget that!"

* * *

Ceveris yawned as he awakened and saw that Meyrin was standing beside the bed he laid in. He recognized this place as the medical center and concluded he must have been injured in the fight with the black Gundam, he didn't remember very much except that he was being beaten very badly. Seeing Meyrin there was a welcome sight, he seemed to get more and more beautiful as each day passed by.

"Hello Mey, I didn't expect to see you here," he said with a smile when he saw the distressed look on her face and realized that she was serious about something, "what's wrong?" he asked her.

"You!" she said harshly as if she was frustrated, "you are what's wrong! I can't believe you! I've tried so hard to get rid of you yet you keep coming back and risking your life! How could you Ceveris? I can't believe that you care so much after all the things that I've said bitterly to try and get you to leave! I have been so convinced all this time that you didn't care, can't you let me go on my delusions! I don't want to be hurt by you again!" He failed to really see how his loyalty was a problem but she was clearly very distressed by the truth she couldn't escape, she really loved him. He couldn't stop himself thought he knew this wasn't a good moment for it, he started laughing very loudly at her.

"Why are you laughing at me?" She asked in distress as she wiped tears from her eyes and began laugh a little herself though she tried not to, "I am being perfectly serious Ceveris!" But he couldn't stop laughing and she couldn't stop herself from laughing. In this moment she saw herself sitting on her ridiculous high horse and trying so hard to be strong around him when all along she loved him as much as he loved her.

"I know Mey," he said with a final laugh and their laughter turned to smiles, "believe me I've tried to fight it as well but your like a magnet pulling me in. I love you Mey, that's the truth, the most real thing I've ever spoken because your the most real thing I've ever known."

"And your arrogance," she said with a laugh, "you pull me in even though I fight to resist you. I can't believe you have put up with me!"

"Well I knew that there was no way I would ever find someone as perfect as you anywhere else in the world," he said sitting up and facing her, "that I shouldn't give up on you." Tears now flowed out of her eyes as her smile at him was real and she sat down beside him blushing from how he made her feel.

"Then there is no other way to say this," she responded to him, "I do love you…" Before she could continue he cut her off kissing her passionately. She had missed him so much. She wrapped her arms around his neck kissing him back. She would deny the truth no longer, she loved him more than anything else in the world despite everything in the past, now was the day she would forgive and forget the past and move on into the future where they would face the dark together.

* * *

She woke up to a cold wind blowing from the open balcony door and she sat up when she realized Athrun was not beside her. After the battle that day they were all on edge but it was important to get sleep when it was possible. Now the nation was in an uneasy peace and still shocked at how easily one unit just put a whole war to end. She knew that Athrun was feeling very torn about what to do regarding the situation because he felt that he had failed to protect his nation and so a foreign force had come in and now they owed these people. Despite how Kira tried to reassure them all that Redemption's motives were good Cagalli didn't like being put in a position of debut.

She stood up wand walked out the balcony door to find that Athrun was out there lost in thought and wondering what to do next.

"It's cold out," Cagalli said. Athrun had felt her presence coming and he knew that she just be worried about him, he just couldn't sleep now. He was too deep in thought about everything, Redemption, the Phoenix and Yaro. Nothing was making as much sense as it should.

"You should be asleep," he said to her turning around to face her.

"Not with you like this," she said walking up to him and raising a hand to stroke his cheek, "we're all on edge Athrun, but nothing will happen tonight. We will speak to Redemption in the morning and we will sort everything out then. Staying up like this will doe us no good. Please Athrun." He understood her concern and he knew she was right. They should rest in peace while peace was around them.

"You're right Cagalli," he said taking her hand, "nothing will be decided tonight, but tomorrow we will figure everything out."

* * *

_How long do you think you can keep this up before Liene leaves you for dead?_

Jayley's words echoed in his mind, haunting him like a cancer that was slowly eating away his mind. She was right in everything she had spoken to him about Liene's intentions for he now saw it in the mans eyes, Liene wanted Mike dead. Mike couldn't figure out how Liene knew he was secretly working against him but somehow he did and at the same time Mike was glad that now Liene saw the truth. It was an odd relationship now as the two still persisted on as if they were working together though both of them knew that they were not.

Liene would try to kill him soon, he was sure of it but not before he was done using him. Mike still felt that he had his uses here in ROW so he was not really frightened about his future at this point. He was more saddened by the truth that Jayley would be his downfall for he had reported to her ROW's strength so many times now that there was no turning back and Liene saw right through his games. Mike now saw that overall Jayley's intentions were not on track with what the world should be heading for, he had no doubt that she was ready to sacrifice the PLANT fleet to continue the war with ORB but she had not at the insisting of the PLANT council. That whole situation puzzled him for he did not understand who on earth would threaten the PLANTs the way that girl had.

He looked out the window into space and he knew that his time in life was expiring, he could feel it. He wondered if he could just die without his life ever really meaning anything. He had once had hope because he had raised Meiko, and she was supposed to free the world but now no one really remembered what it was she did for the world. Was it really his destiny to die like her, alone and with no one to remember him. He would have no name to himself. Was this really his fate?

* * *

Milady and Yzak both stood in the Reversal's hangar, it was wide open in the moonlight though no hands were awake. They lad left it open waiting for Meiko to return, when she had disappeared after the battlefield Milady had begun to worry about her by Yzak just seemed on edge about the whole thing. Meiko was fighting with them now but the way he saw it she was not committing herself to anything. This was very hard for him to look at, how was such a warrior to be trusted? What if she just decided to leave a battle one day? Milady did not seem to harbor these fears so he just had to trust her, Meiko was her daughter after all.

It was then that they both sighted a mobile suit flying toward the opening in the ship and as it got closer they recognized it as the Phoenix, Meiko had inded come home.

"I knew she would come back," Milady said sighing relief. Yzak nodded as the machine landed inside the hangar and Meiko came down from the machine. She stopped in front of them and looked like she had a heavy heart. They both knew that something had happened to make her like this. Milady had her suspicions about where Meiko had gone but she dare not question the things her daughter did. She lost the role to play mother the day she agreed to let Liene use her daughter for his own schemes. Milady wasn't sure waiting up for Meiko was the best idea either. Meiko did not take offense at the actions, she was still not used to having a mother and she believe that Milady was behaving a a natural mother would. She was worried about her daughter, now Meiko faced a test of whether she cold go through with everything in front of people that had been hurt by her and people who she had saved in so many ways.

"I will be at the meeting tomorrow," Meiko said, "ORB will surely call for a meeting with you." Milady nodded, she knew they would. She was going to say something about it when Meiko continued, "you may wear your mask mother but I don't think I'll follow in that. There is too much risk in this world and I have a duty to perform. A duty to myself and to the nation of ORB, promise me you won't interfere with what I decide to do."

"I promise," Milady replied knowing she had to trust her daughter, "But is all this really necessary? I am sure after what happened with the STING you were forgiven by everyone." Meiko's eyes widened as she realized her mother saw right through her.

"I went to Uzumi's graze tonight as you suspected," Meiko said, "and there I met Trey, and he took me to Yaro." Milady's eyes widened now, had Meiko revealed herself to the boy. "I didn't reveal myself, he wasn't awake. He was hurt. What else could I do? I went with Trey and I watched him Milady, he has the super seed and it was attacking him like it attacked me, so I did what I could. I healed him with my seed, and I pray that it worked." Milady was shocked at this, Meiko now understood the seed well enough to identify it as well as use it, this was something she had not expected to happen so soon.

"Welll…" Milady tried to speak but she was interrupted by Meiko.

"I thought I was the only one with it!" Meiko exclaimed, "How is it that Yaro has this as well? What is it that is taking place?"

"You thought you were so special Meiko?" Yzak asked looking at her, "you think you're the only one."

"We let her believe that was true Yzak," Milady said angrily to him and then she turned back to Meiko, "it's true there are others, but we weren't sure that there should be. When I researched it with Liene we didn't believe that anyone else would be able to use it. Your strong Meiko, stronger in body than most so you could endure it but I wasn't sure about others being able to use it, it was just a theory." Meiko looked betrayed still.

"What will happen to him if it is the super seed?" Meiko asked her, "how will his life be affected?" Milady understood that this boy was a weak point for Meiko, she cared about him more than anything else in the world, enough to lash out at her own mother.

"I don't know," Milady lied to her now because she still had to protect her. Meiko shook her head and stormed off as if she saw right through Milady. Yzak sighed and turned back to Milady when Meiko had left the room.

"I thought you said Yaro would never be able to access his super seed?" Yzak expressed now. Milady turned away from him as well. It was true that was what was planned, that was what she theorized. He was never supposed to have the super seed in the same way that Meiko did, he wasn't strong enough to take that much raw power.

"I was sure that we had made sure this would never happen," Milady responded, "We never wanted him to get hurt by it but we were still only theorizing about everything, even the super seed prevention measures. Now Liene has all that data and I am sure that he is preparing to use it for something. If Yaro has accessed the super seed than he is in danger, this was never supposed to happen!" She had tried so hard to prevent this. Yaro had been the one child she had been able to save from ROW, the one child that she found when she left and she desired to protect him more than anything. She had placed him in a orphanage and made sure that Lacus and Kira got him, because she wanted him safe.

"He was the only one you could find," Yzak said reffering to Yaro, "are you sure that you didn't want to keep him around?"

"I wanted to be better than John Liene," Milady replied, "I would not raise a child in a militaristic organization, and Yaro wasn't mine to raise. I thought he would be safer with Kira and Lacus. Everything I did was for the best."

"But now he's suffering," Yzak said, "it seems even you couldn't keep him from his destiny." She nodded. She had done all she could but in the end he was still on the battlefield and him and Meiko had still met each other. Now she prayed that Liene had not figured everything out, for if he found out what she had done seventeen years before then he would certainly use all her lies against her.

"If he is awakening," Milady said looking to the moonlight, "then he will need Meiko, for she is the only one who can help him as she did tonight."

* * *

He awoke in darkness but his head no longer hurt and his mind was no longer numb. He looked around him and there was no one there. He concluded that it was night for surely in the day someone would be watching over him. Yaro Yamato was confused about what had happened on the battlefield but there was no war raging around him now and he was aboard the Archangel by the looks of it so he was safe. He was still tired.

Dreams had plagued him earlier but then an angle had entered his dreams and saved him. He had only seen her figure but he had heard a voice inside his head, whispering words of comfort and he was confused about it. Something in the world around him was different now and he knew that he would find it all in the morning. He would find the truth about what it was that had changed and who it was that had come to ORB to save them all.

* * *

**Survivor18 - So sorry about the confusion, Gera is the pilot of the black gundam what I was saying was that she was not the person in Yaro's vision. She was the one fighting him but when his seed was activated someone else appeared to him. I also corrected the mistake between Tripp and Trey, my bad, I totally didn't realize that I did that. **

**So Jayley was defeated but at this point I think all of you are expecting her to make another move immediately. She wants to but she can't just yet. Her anger and plot isn't over yet it's just going to be running in the background as Liene will once again claim the spot of the main villain for the next arch. Be prepared for the super seed to lead on to the future. Things are getting crazy once again. :D. Stay with me!**

**Thanks again to Byron Lancaster, Fenikkusumaru, Capt Freedom and Survivor18 for reviewing! :D**

**I know I've been writing and posting a lot lately, it's just I've been hit with tons of inspiration and now when I sit down to write it just seems to be coming to me, I don't know how long this will last but I do know that at the end of this week I will be back in school and unable to write as much so enjoy it while you can!**

**14 Phases left!  
**

**-REVIEW NOW! LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!**  
**-WinterChill :D**


	39. Phoenix's Heart

**Ready for the next Phase! Cause here it is! READY!**

**I'm excited about this one! It's what I've been waiting for these past months! Please read and review afterwards!  
**

**Phase 37: Phoenix's Heart**

* * *

She ran from the ship the moment the doors opened and she saw them; Kira, Leyas and Kiran were all there safe. She ran into Kira's arms and he held her close. Lacus was happy to be home. Kayla followed her out with Haro bouncing behind her as always. Andrew Waltfeld had also come. After all greetings were exchanged Athrun and Cagalli had made arrangements for them to be rushed out of the area and into tinted armored vans. No one was to know that Lacus was in ORB now, the war with the PLANTs had ended indefinitely and it was still unsure who they had waiting for them. Once inside the van, Lacus sat between Kiran and Kayla and Kiran let her treat him as if he was still a small child for he had put them through a scare. He was happy to see his mother now for the first time since the STING exploded in space. The whole family was almost all together.

"How is Yaro?" Lacus asked Kira. Kira turned away at the questions trying to hide his fear and doubt from Lacus, she didn't need to worry about what had happened, she had enough to worry over. He then started to wonder if it was possible to hide the truth of the person that Yaro had started becoming without them there. He turned back to her with a reassuring smile.

"It seems that his fever broke sometime in the night," Kira said to her, "and I saw him this morning, he was still very tired and he wasn't awake for long. It seems he just exhausted himself."

"That's not like him," Lacus replied to which Kira shrugged. He knew that she had caught on with that comment, and he was worried as well; showing exhaustion was not like him. He always tried to be stronger than the people around him and he rarely ever ducked in weakness against any challenge. Kira had a theory that Yaro was trying to avoid speaking of the events of the past months to anyone. He was still frightened by something and he didn't want anyone to know about it.

"Well at least he is alive and safe," Kira replied, "that's more than his comrade; he lost his friend Tripp to the battle. They had fought together through the war with the PLANTs." Lacus nodded, she hated hearing something like that. Yaro didn't need to deal with more loss in his life. She remembered some of her own friends who had joined ZAFT when she was young; she had lost so many as well. She always hated looking back at that time and she understood how hard it would be for Yaro to continue on with people's deaths haunting him. She had always hoped her children would never have to suffer as she had, but they were in a war and suffering was just part of the deal.

"What about you Kiran," Lacus said turning to her other son who had been involved in the war, "how are you doing with everything?"

"I don't know," Kiran responded with a little look of discomfort in his eyes. He still wasn't sure how he felt about everything, he hadn't really lost any friends. "I mean, it's been hard fighting and everything but I know that I have a reason to fight. I haven't really gone through anything too dramatic but sometimes it is a bit frightening out there. I have made some friends who are helping me learn everything though and now that dad's back he can teach me more about mobile suits." Kira smiled at this, he wasn't exactly sure how much he could teach. He had learned everything on his own when he was young in desperate times and when he had tried to teach Yaro he had realized how much he couldn't explain.

"Trey is teaching me," Leyas responded, "and he says I'm learning quickly!" Kayla did not like where this conversation was going, it seemed that it was becoming a good thing to pilot a mobile suit.

"You shouldn't be fighting on the battlefield," Kiran said, "you're a girl! You're too nice to kill anyone!"

"For your information Kiran, I don't kill people; Trey and I fight in the same mobile suit and we work to disarm other mobile suits," she said with a cocky voice, "besides we all need to do our part. What good can I do sitting back? I want to fight for what I believe in as well!"

"But mobile suits are primarily weapons created to take lives," Kayla said speaking up now with her ever wise voice, "no matter what your intentions are you can not forget that these machines exist to fight wars. I will never enter one and I hope a day comes where we can erase their existence from the world, because we want war to cease to exist." Kira smiled at this, listening to his family talk reminded him of the times when things were easier. The times when they had peace and there was no war to worry about, he prayed those days would return soon and that his family would be able to sit down together, Yaro included, and discuss these things. Yes this was the reason that he fought; for the love of his children and the hope of a peaceful world.

* * *

"She's been very quite since last night," Yzak observed as Meiko sat beside her mobile suit with a laptop, "and she slept in the Phoenix last night." Milady nodded to him, Meiko was clearly on edge about something and she theorized that it was Yaro. She hadn't been the same since the battlefield, and it had been seeing Yaro fighting that had stirred her to act as recklessly as she had. Perhaps that was a good thing because it drove her to fight but it also could be a bad thing because she would put her life on the line to protect him and her life was more important than his if the world was to reach peace.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder," Milady sighed thinking about it, "I really hope that nothing drastic happens between them." Yzak smiled at this, he was sure that things were already in too deep for Meiko to change her ways now.

"I don't know on his part," Yzak replied, "but it is very clear on her part that she cares a great deal for him; shows that you couldn't stop destiny from coming to full fruition through your actions back then." Milady sighed once again, she still didn't know how she felt about that. She had never predicted that Liene could be right about anything, but he had once said that Meiko and Yaro were destiny.

"Nothing has changed yet," Milady responded turning to Yzak, "perhaps things aren't as deep as they seem. I mean he did try to kill her in the battle against the STING, and before that. He was very angry with her and he has become a much colder person because of the events that have taken place. I am worried that somehow we can't prevent his own heart from turning away to a darker path, I hope Kira and Lacus are taking care of him as I charged Lacus to do so."

"Well we'll see how things play out this afternoon," Yzak replied, "Meiko might not even be with us afterward." This didn't alarm Milady as it was wistful thinking.

"She will be," Milady replied, "I don't know if she realizes that but she will be."

* * *

"Okay I know you don't want to be involved in the politics of this war but you kinda are by being an escaped ROW agent and the only one who can really identify their methods for us," Leyas said as she sat across from Trey in the Attha mansions dining room. He frowned at her statements and she continued, "you have helped us a great deal to avoid ROW ships in space and to identify areas they were hitting. You understand their tactics Trey and I just really wanted you there." What was she getting at, where did she want him.

"What are you talking about Leyas," she laughed a little at his response. He did not understand then she realized that she may have introduced it the wrong way.

"Cagalli called for a meeting with Redemption," Leyas responded, "my parents and Cagalli and Athrun are going to be there and I was invited as well because I insisted. I also insisted that you come as well. We're not sure how things will go with them and you're the person I trust most." He raised his eyebrows to this, something else was up as well.

"Well I am honored to be included but I'm not sure I really belong," he responded to her to which she laughed a little.

"Well you see," she continued, "that's only half of what I have to tell you. I was speaking to my mother and father last night and I informed them that I was going to ask if I could drop the ORB and Clyne faction guards now because I've decided that I want you to be my body guard." He wasn't really surprised at this, Leyas complained about the Clyne faction guards often and she had once asked him what he thought about being a body guard. He personally thought it was a good idea, Leyas was much more of a public figure than her siblings and he felt like she needed to be protected. "How do you feel about that?" she asked looking a little skeptical.

"I think that is a good idea Leyas," he responded with a smile, "I would be happy to attend the meeting as your body guard." She smiled at this, he had become her best fried in the short time they had known each other and there was no one that she was more comfortable around now. She was his first friend in this new place he found himself in and he cared a great deal about her, today was a good day to begin showing that.

* * *

Kira, Lacus, Cagalli, Athrun, Leyas and Trey all stood at one of the most obscure cliffs on the entire ORB island; the place designated for the meeting with redemption. They of course had brought a few ORB guards under the command of Shinn Auska, but this place was completely private and unknown to the public as it was the will of Redemption to completely avoid any media attention with this. They apparently had a proposition to make to the Clyne faction and to ORB that they didn't want anyone to know about. Cagalli was completely uneasy that they had not yet arrived but Athrun reassured her that everything was going to be okay, plus these people had been the ones to rescue Kira as well as her nation. Their motives so far appeared to be in the service of peace.

After what seemed like a lifetime a small shuttle was seen in the distance. The four were all relieved when it landed revealing Milady Redemption, Yzak Joule and a few other Redemption officials. Lacus smiled as the four proceeded forward to meet with these people. She was happy to see that Yzak was alive and well, he had saved her and Kira way back in the Gibraltar incident. She turned and saw that Leyas seemed excited at just being included in this.

"Greetings to you," Milady was the first to speak and everyone found it strange that she wore a mask, it made Cagalli more uneasy, "I see you are all looking well. The war hasn't beaten you down too bad."

"Greetings to you as well Milady Redemption," Cagalli said speaking first as it was her nation they were all meeting at, "we have nothing but gratitude to offer you for coming to the aid of our nation in such a critical time, we would not be here if it weren't for you." Milady nodded with what seemed like a smile, it was hard for them to tell.

"Well we could not allow such a thing to take place," Milady replied to Cagalli, "ORB is one of the most important nations in the world and if it had fallen then there would be no hope left for anything. That is why we come today, because we recognize the importance of your nation and the importance of your alliance with the Clyne faction. Your alliance may have been the cause of some trouble but it is very important to the safety and security of the world if it is to turn back to the peace we had under both you Cagalli and you Lacus." It was now that Athrun spoke up as he saw Cagalli was becoming uneasy by the mask Milady wore.

"Excuse my comments," Athrun said before speaking anything else, "But is it necessary for you to wear a mask? We're all friends here, surely you can trust us with your identity." To this Yzak spoke next.

"One can never be to careful," he responded looking at the group that had accompanied the four, "Milady's identity is in question anyway. It is important to our operations that she remain masked and under the protection of our military." Before anyone could speak anymore a roaring sound echoed through the air and they looked to see a mobile suit approaching fast.

The Phoenix was flying in. Milady's breath caught in her throat as that morning Meiko had not spoken to any of them of her plans so Milady had left without her. She had expected Meiko to back out of her appearance but it seemed the girl was not too pleased with that assumption. Milady saw that Kira and Lacus were both wide eyed at the machine, it was truly beautiful in the sunlight. Hopefully it didn't attract any attention from the shoreline. It landed behind the Redemption shuttle and it's weapons were brandished.

"Before we continue talks I think we should disarm all weapons," Kira said stepping forward, though he expected no violence, the appearance of the machine did make everyone uncomfortable.

"The Phoenix is her own solider," Milady responded to him, "she accompanied us but she is not under our banner, as she does not wish to be associated with any faction. Perhaps if you ask her to she will come down, but I have no authority over her." Just as those words were spoken the pilot of the Phoenix opened her cockpit and began to lower herself from it. Once again no one could see her face behind the tinted glass of her helmet. She was dressed in all black and seemed to be wearing quite a few weapons.

When the pilot had made it to the ground she walked behind Milady and Yzak and came to stand alongside her mother. She was a little shorter than Milady but no one could see her face as she crossed her arms and seemed to want to say nothing, only to be included in the peace talks. Leyas felt a strange sensation at the approach of the girl, as if she had met her before. Something about her was very familiar. This caused Leyas to venture closer and Trey noticed how Leyas looked at the pilot, he remembered what Meiko had said about maybe revealing herself. He wondered how long she could hide it with everyone picking up signals from her. Leyas had know her before and if Leyas identified her things were certain to change so he grabbed Leyas's arm and made a face as if to say it wasn't polite to share.

"Well now that is settled," Milady said but before she could speak anymore Meiko grabbed her arm and stepped forward and threw a gun to the ground. She felt an odd sensation as everyone watched her as she began to slowly remove her helmet, her long red hair pouring out of it. She raised her head as her violet eyes seemed to carry a fire in them shocking everyone there as they looked on the face of Meiko Virea, the girl who had sacrificed her life for them before and the person none of them ever expected to see again. Kira blinked quite a few times before determining that it was indeed true. A story untold.

"Meiko!" Kira gasped in shock, "but you destroyed the STING, you died." Milady felt the tension of the moment and sought to relieve it but there was nothing else to be said. He couldn't believe his eyes, neither could anyone else there who knew her. She was the one Uzumi had died for and she had put her life on the line for them. How could they be seeing her now. How could anyone have survived. Meiko seemed to ignore Kira and looked directly at Cagalli.

"You have lost the most out of anyone Lady Cagalli," Meiko said to her, "your nation has been under constant attack and the life of your son was claimed by ROW. I have come today because I was once in ROW, and if anyone is responsible for the things that have taken place it is me. I revealed the whereabouts of the Clyne family to Liene back then which he leaked to the PLANTs. I have now ended the war between the PLANTs as atonement, but I am sure that if you are looking for someone to blame you can look no futher. For all I have done I am truly sorry because I did not realize there was another way. Redemption saved me, they are good people who are here now to further offer you help. You should hear them out without prejudice, for if you should hate anyone hate me." Everyone there were shocked by the speech that Meiko had just made and Milady felt fear at what Meiko was doing. The girl was purposely incriminating herself before the group of people there. She had already atoned for everything, surely no hate should be placed her her head.

"No," Athrun said now stepping forward, "you're not to blame. You were as much of a victim of the events as we were and as Uzumi was. You don't deserve to be hated now for that, and I know for a fact that you are the reason every single one of us is still here today. You rescued Yaro and brought down the STING, and if that wasn't enough you came back and saved ORB. We can only offer you thanks for putting your life on the line for us the way you have. What I wonder is how you did survive." Something in Meiko's eyes changed at his words, she never dreamed that the father of Uzumi would forgive her the way he had, she had caused his son's death. He was surprised to see her alive now but he knew whatever had brought about these events, Uzumi had been the one to saver her and Athrun knew that he had to show her the kindness his son had. She was more important than she knew. Lacus recognized something there in her eyes, a light and a sorrow of a life that was smothered in guilt.

"He's right," Cagalli said to the girl kicking the gun away from her as she saw the light in Meiko's eyes as well, "you are not the darkness you claim to be Meiko. I now see what is in your heart and I see what my son died to save, for you are truly an angel sent to us to save us from the events that have happened. No matter what you believe you have changed us all for the better and because of you we stand here." With that Cagalli saluted her now shocking Meiko, "please accept my thanks for everything that you have done for my country and for everything that you are to this world."

Athrun, Lacus and Kira all gave her a salute in honor. Leyas was still feeling extreme shock and a bit of resentment at seeing Meiko there. Everyone was forgiving her like it was no big deal but something in Leyas was ignited in anger. Meiko Virea had caused everything and no matter what right she had done she had done so much wrong as well. At this moment Leyas looked to Trey who also seemed happy at the events then she remembered that he was once in ROW as well. He had fought against then in their initial escape from the PLANTs and she had forgiven him, then she turned back to Meiko. Perhaps it was the same, Meiko deserved forgiveness as well. If she could find it in her heart to come here and lay her life to their judgment then they all could see the goodness in her. Leyas then followed her family in giving Meiko a salute.

"We owe you our lives Meiko," Lacus spoke now, "to you we are truly thankful."

"Now the talks can continue," Yzak said stepping forward, "I am sure there is much to discuss."

"Yes," Cagalli said standing up, "I am ready. For we will ally ourselves with you heart and soul, for you have brought back light into this world and whatever your intentions we will side with you." Milady knew no one could see the tears in her eyes now at the reception her daughter had gotten back by the people she so sought approval.

"Thank you Cagalli," Milady replied, "thank you."

"We first must address the issue of docking and resupplying," Yzak said taking over for Milady as he saw she was overwhelmed with emotion now, "our fleet is like any other, we need a place to resupply after that battle and it is a little difficult to head back to our base. You must be protected, your nation is important." Cagalli nodded at this, it was true she had been wondering how they expected to stay supplied.

"You shall use our docks," Cagalli responded, "for will would have it no other way after how you came to help us." They all smiled at this.

"And our main operation will take more to discuss," Milady said, "for I am sure you know we are an anti ROW group, and our main purpose is to see them destroyed. No matter how you set them back they are still at large." It was Meiko who spoke now.

"Surely you don't expect to lay out all the details here," Meiko spoke with authority, "I request that we continue to the military base now, we need maps and computers to show all the information Redemption has. I am sure after seeing what your plan is Milady they will join in with us. Alliance was the step for this meeting."

"If your plan is it defeat ROW we are with you completely," Kira responded to Meiko's words, "for they have twisted our world for too long, and we will see them defeated."

Milady was very happy at this, the outcome would be peaceful. The three factions had come together now under the pact of defeating ROW. Now the next steps the would take would be to see Liene fall and to see the world restored to peace. Meiko's presence had changed everything, every tension had faded as the Phoenix stood before them all in bright and shining light. She was everything Milady had hoped for and she was the healing to the world and she would be brighter than the sun as she took to the skies in flight.

* * *

Leyas was surprised by all the commotion as five hours later Redemption was settling into the military base. There were so many people she didn't know wandering around and being let onto ORB soil. The Reversal was docked in one of the main hangars and it seemed that there was a lot of commotion around the Phoenix's arrival. Leyas stood on one of the upper balconies looking down into the large hangar as many people just started at Meiko as she ordered the Redemption personal on how to handle her machine. She treated the machine like it was a part of herself and in a way it was, it was her sword in the coming battles and the previous one. Leyas was also surprised that she kept her tinted helmet on as if she was wary of the people around her. So many people approached her to thank her and she was polite but she was clearly on edge about the attention.

She walked to a more controlled area and Leyas saw her approaching Yzak, Kira and Athrun whom were all hovering over Kira's new machine which Lacus had brought to earth. Apparently the Clyne faction still hadn't figured out how to finish it. Leyas sighed as she watched all the commotion. Apparently Milady was speaking to Cagalli and Lacus alone aboard the Reversal and Leyas didn't understand why the boys didn't join the meeting but there was nothing she could do.

Meiko noticed Leyas watching her from the balcony and she wondered if Leyas was once again subject to the strange feeling. Meiko had been wondering since encountering Yaro if perhaps Leyas had a super seed as well, or any of the people around her. Meiko turned toward Kira and Yzak who were discussing something about an operating system. She listened closely as she had been the one to completed the Phoenix's, perhaps she could help them. Meiko was uncomfortable taking off her helmet but then she remembered her mother's own mask and in that moment decided she would not be like the older woman so she took off her helmet once again causing a bit of a stir among the workers in the hangar. They were instructed not to take any photos of the new guests but some of them were surprised that the girl behind the mask was so young.

"You say that the Clyne faction scientists wrote most of it," Meiko said referring to the machines system. When she looked up at the machine she saw that it was indeed very powerful and she could feel power radiating from it thanks to her heightened awareness that came with having the super seed. She was surprised that Kira hand not overseen all the details of such a magnificent power himself, letting multiple people work on one system was a surefire way of causing problems. In ROW it was very clear that Liene believed in the power of the individual and as such it was often one scientist alone who made discoveries. This was how ROW had become so powerful, through individuals.

"Yes," Kira responded to her questions, "I was busy working out details in the base and progress on this needed to continue, we couldn't have it just stopping every time I was busy." She nodded understanding that thought and the division of time the way he needed it.

"It's so powerful," Meiko commented as she felt something else through her mind. Kira noticed as she flinched at something. She then felt a pressure in her head and she looked at Yzak with alarm, he would understand. She wasn't supposed to have outbursts any more but occasionally the super seed did act up, it was because she still wasn't used to having raw power inside her head. Kira saw a flash of pain then cross her face and he knew that something was wrong.

"Meiko?" He asked her and that caused Athrun to notice. Yzak put a hand on her shoulder silently understanding her as she moved her hands to her head as if trying to shield it from something. Her breathing increased as she started to loose focus and visions of Liene started to fill her mind followed by visions of things she still didn't understand.

"Do you want me to get Milady Meiko?" Yzak asked her as her breathing increased.

"What's wrong?" Kira asked as he saw the girl suddenly look like she was in pain. He didn't understand what was going on.

"No," Meiko responded as tears filled her eyes and she fought it back with all her strength. The visions began to fade as the pressure began to leave. She looked up at them with tears in her eyes as she felt her strength partially drained from fighting it back so hard, "no I got it Yzak, I have to learn how to beat it. I won't always have someone there to help me." Yzak nodded as he realized that for the first time Meiko had just beaten it on her own. He looked at the people around and wondered if her proximity to them had helped in any way.

"What was wrong?" Athrun asked confused, "if you need to rest we have rooms prepared for all the Redemption people, I can get someone to show you there now." Meiko put on a fake smile.

"No," she responded, "it's nothing, I just get these short headaches from time to time." She then walked toward the Phoenix a little embarrassed that she had shown weakness in front of them. Kira turned to Yzak as if to ask for answers.

"She went through a lot," Yzak responded to their questioning looks, "when we recovered her she was all but dead and it took quite a while to get her strong enough to stand much less to fight in a mobile suit. She still suffers from an injury that Liene inflicted upon her mind, I'm sure you remember her mind moving a mobile suit that she didn't want to move." Athrun was shocked and looked back toward where Meiko now sat, he saw Milady and the girls walk and and Milady immediately went to the girl and gave her a hug. Athrun remembered that system well, it had taken Uzumi's life and made them all think it was Meiko's fault.

"We had no idea that it could have ever caused anything like that," Kira said turning to Yzak.

"Well it was barbaric of Liene to use it," Yzak replied as he noticed Meiko trying not to cry as she spoke to Milady about it. He knew it was going to take some more time, but Meiko was really suffering because Liene had awakened her super seed and in time she would master it and be able to use it's power. Now it was still so new to her that just accidentally triggering it could hurt her.

Meiko hated leaning on Milady even though she was her mother because there was still a tension between them. Meiko was hurt that the truth had not come out in the beginning when she had first been brought to that place, but at this moment she had to tell her mother what had just happened. Milady had helped Liene research the super seed so she was the only one who really understood what it was that was going on in Meiko's head. Listening to Meiko describe it hurt Milady because she was distant from her own daughter because of her own actions.

* * *

Yaro walked into the hangar as Kiran had been bragging to him since he woke up about all the commotion he was missing. Kiran had been polite enough to fill him in on how Redemption had ended the battle with that one mobile suit that had saved him. Kiran also informed him that it seemed ORB had allied with Redemption and let them dock in their hangars. Yaro had been asleep for most of the day apparently and it seemed no one had wanted to wake him for some reason. He quickly got discharged from the medical center after then had found that there was nothing wrong with him. He then headed over to the main hangar to find his father and ask what exactly was going on. With this purpose in mind he entered through the open gates and noticed all the excitement that was being generated by the new arrivals.

He spotted his father and Athrun talking to someone with silver hair. The man wore a Redemption uniform and he seemed to know Yaro's relatives. Yaro walked quickly to where they were knowing that he really wanted to understand what the alliance entailed. He was also very interested in how the Phoenix seemed to hold the entire PLANT fleet hostage in order to save ORB. It was a lot for him to take in as well as his father being back. He couldn't believe his eyes when he had first seen it but now it was definite as he saw his father there and a new mobile suit with him. But hadn't his father been in the Justice earlier? This new machine was probably incomplete.

Yaro saw his chance as Cagalli approached to take Athrun away and the silver hair redemption officer left Kira alone. Now Yaro would be able to seek his fathers help in the things to come. Athrun had said Kira understood more than Yaro really knew, now was his chance to find out just how much.

"Father?" Yaro approached still unsure of himself and everything that happened. He knew he didn't want to hide himself away because of it but he also was afraid of how everyone viewed the darkness that they saw in him. This was different than that darkness Uzumi had felt because Uzumi had felt a darkness of future events, now Yaro felt a darkness in his own actions. To Yaro's surprise Kira looked at him with an excitement and joy upon seeing his son alive and well.

"Yaro!" Kira said with relief, "It's good to have you back." Kira was a little uncomfortable knowing the task ahead and Yaro felt unworthy thinking of the things that were behind. He had accused Kira of not understanding and he had determined in his heart that his father just didn't care but now he saw things so differently. He knew now that he needed Kira, and though he had renounced him in the past he knew that Kira would always be his father despite the fact that Yaro was adopted.

"I'm so sorry," Yaro began, "I've done terrible things, and I just don't know if I can do this alone anymore. It's been too dark father, and I don't understand what it is." Kira took his turn now.

"We all make mistakes Yaro," Kira said realizing how easy Yaro was making this, "and sometimes we feel like everything is our fault but it's not Yaro. I'm sorry that I didn't even try to understand what it was you were saying to me. Sometimes I feel like a complete failure but I promise that I won't be like that anymore." It was then that Yaro felt something strange and he turned his head slightly to see something he never thought he would ever see again in his entire life. At that moment she turned her head as well and their eyes locked as every event hit him at once. Meiko Virea.

"No," Yaro whispered as he saw everything in his mind again. The first day he met her, their times in ORB, the time when the darkness fell and she told him the truth of everything, the day Uzumi died, The day he pointed a gun at her when he should have offered her safety and the day she gave his life to save him. Kira turned to see what was happening and he realized, this wasn't something he could change. Yaro had found out the truth in a way he shouldn't have, and now it was up to Meiko to explain everything. Yaro saw in her eyes sorrow as if she was begging him to forgive her, to accept her despite how she had lived and let him live on thinking she was dead. He felt in his heart something shatter and reform as if he had always known. She never really could leave, she was always there. He had been lost for so long because he had lost her and now she was here. He felt he should be running to her but instead he found himself running away from her as if he was unwilling to face that she had seen right into his soul and it was black.

"Yaro!" he heard her voice as he left the hangar and ran faster and faster, farther and farther. He had to face it but how could he believe it? It was too much to handle, how could he face her when she wouldn't even face him? It seemed she had let everyone else know but she had not come to him. How was it even possible that she was here?

* * *

Meiko stood there devastated as she watched Yaro run. She herself had been frozen by seeing him there staring her way because everything she had done was really for him. She had kept memories of him with her when she was frozen in the darkness and they had helped her come out of it. She couldn't bear his reaction now as he ran even as she sad his name. Tears formed in her eyes after all the dark she had faced how could she bring herself to face the one person who could break her?

She closed her eyes willing for everything to stop and now she felt someone beside her and a hand on her shoulder and she looked into the face of Kira Yamato, the only person who had caught the exchange. He seemed to understand everything she was feeling, she could tell by the look in his eyes. Why is it that he felt so much compassion on her?

"He's changed," Kira said to her thinking about the past few months, "but I believe that you are the only one who can bring back his light Meiko. He's been in the dark but you have to help him." Meiko felt what was now Kira's plea to her to face her fears, not for him nor for herself but because of Yaro. Because she needed to show him the truth of her own new found light and bring him back from the dark. She tried so many times to believe that she could come back and face it all but she now saw how hard it would be. It still all felt like a dream to her as she saw clearly the path she would have to take.

* * *

She found Yaro at the cliffs of ORB, where so many important events in their lives had taken place. This was where they had first met and where he had first threatened to kill her. This was where she had thrown her own gun down and declared that she had wanted death. For what was worth living if the one person who had changed her life wanted her dead? It had been so dark then but she had been freed by a light within her and by the light from Uzumi while he had been left in the darkness. She had known he would be here, for she knew him. He knew that she was there, she knew this as well. They were as two strangers who were somehow thrust into destiny's grasp back then; they had been forced to become enemies and when they had been forced into separation they had both longed for each other to be back. Now that they had everything they wanted they were both still waiting for the other to say something, waiting for each other to confirm the dark that had been plaguing them since the day they fell apart.

"You died," he said as she stood there in the distance away from him, just watching and waiting for him to speak. He was facing the sunset and not facing her as she knew it was hard to look at him at all. A memory of the past floated in her mind of them watching the sunset together. She breathed in thinking of everything, playing it over in her head and trying to think of something to say. She was so frozen by the darkened past that they both shared as feelings she did not realize she still had began to resurface through everything.

"Yes," she whispered, "from what everyone knew, including myself. I died to the darkness, and when I myself sought death it did not claim me. I do not understand for what reason I was spared but I was. I was spared from the darkness of death but now in life I have found a redemption from my past, and I wonder if I even deserve that." He now turned to her and she saw tears in his eyes. She knew he was as broken as she was by everything but behind the tears she saw a coldness that marked the time he spent so long in the dark. He was angry with her for it all and he deserved to be; for she had kept away from him in fear of what he would say and do. She was also angry with him for how he had let the darkness affect him, for the things she knew he had done because of her.

"But you're here," he said trying so very hard to understand, "why didn't you come back? Why did you go one and let me believe that you were gone forever? Why Meiko? I can't understand why because you made me promise to survive when you had no intention of doing so as well! You knew you were going to give yourself up to death! You knew and you made me promise to live. How could you make me promise that? How could you just lie to everyone again?" He then held up something, something she had forgotten. She had forced him to promise something that she wouldn't even promise him, and she had given him her necklace. He still had it, and he had it there in his hand. It was a symbol of everything that they had been and everything that they had given up because of her decision that had been selfish yet at the same time so unselfish. It was something that was so wrong yet it had been done with the motives of love and truth that she felt. She had wanted to save everything that she held dear, to save him from the dark yet it had come back to claim him despite it all.

"You have every right to be angry Yaro," she replied to him as she thought about how unfair she had been, "every single right in the world. I was wrong to not come back but I was scared. I was so unsure of myself, I could hardly face the people around me. How could I face you Yaro? You are the only one who can break me! Now I'm asking you to please understand, it's been dark for me as well." How could she still remain selfish about this? He was trying to hold onto his anger yet she made it melt.

"But you don't know how dark it's been for me," Yaro accused now, "how many times I've struggled alone. I forced myself to deal with your death as if it wasn't hard! I struggled to put on a mask of strength and every day I died in anger over the world. Anger over how everything happened. I have been angry at you Meiko for so long! Angry that you left the way you did!"

"I know," She replied to him, "I can see it in your eyes Yaro. It's been hard for everyone to face this war, not just for you. I've been dying to know now if there is any chance in the world that you will forgive me for the darkness that I brought. I'm here now Yaro. I'm here because I couldn't stay away any longer. Don't you see that I've always been here. I've been there in the dark with you every time for every moment I couldn't let you go! For everything I always saw you there in my dreams and my darkest fear was loosing you! I can't go on unless you tell me that there is a way to change this." She looked at him and he couldn't deny how her eyes broke into his soul like they always had. He couldn't hold anger against her when he saw her agonizing as much as he was. Time was too precious to waste in regret. There was a distance between them but a gravity was pulling at them. As their eyes locked in mutual understanding of the pain they had both felt they found themselves running toward each other till they were in each other's arms holding each other tight.

The sun disappeared on the horizon in that moment. All the dark and all the things that had happened were now behind them, as the night was upon them and the day was over they realized that in everything that had happened the sun had to rise again. She felt as he slipped the cold metal heart necklace into her hand as they stood there both unwilling to let go of the other, both fearing that war could tear them apart again.

* * *

Liene smiled as he watched on tape, a new weapon unveiled. The country before him now was completely devastated, a newly conquered land. No matter what Meiko was she would not be able to stand against him. He was determined not to let the new found truth stop him. His plans would continue, he would destroy the world and recreate a new one where all people would have the same mind and same thoughts. He would make sure the world never felt the pain even if in the process he destroyed himself.

Nothing Redemption or anyone else did could stop him now as he saw before him his plans. Everything was changing now. Everything was becoming stronger in his heart.

"Make sure the new mobile suits are ready," Liene said to Mike Shustre who was working on something nearby, "make sure the main base knows my full orders. We are getting ready to abandon Mars for good." Mike nodded as Liene smiled in his twisted way. Now all that remained was for Meiko to come and he was ready for her now. She sought answers that no one was giving her and she would have them, only she would not expect them to be what they were. He knew that he was walking on shaky ground with this one especially with the truth being in the favor of another of his enemies, but he needed her to think. He needed the Phoenix to back down for a moment and to give him an opening to destroy everything.

This time he would not fail. This time he was stronger than ever before. This time Meiko would hesitate, Meiko would waver and Meiko would die.

* * *

**This could be my last update for break, as I have to start school again in a few days. So I know it's not really ending with a bang, but this is a huge moment for our heros as Meiko has been returned to them. I really wanted this chapter to be more about the shock of her return and the strengthening of an alliance between Redemption and our heros. I wanted Meiko to be displayed as a symbol of that. I also worked hard on her reunion with Yaro, I had originally planned her to reveal herself on the battlefield but I decided to change that a few months ago. I wanted this moment to be important, as a highlight of the story. I hoped I succeeded in conveying all the emotions of wonder, fear, accusation, anger, confusion and at the same time acceptance and a different kind of hope.**

**So there is so much encompassed in this chapter emotionally that I really felt was important in moving the plot forward even though the plans Redemption has will not be revealed till the next chapter. **

**So stay with me though the next update might not be for awhile. Tell me how I am doing so far and please leave a Review. If you have read this chapter I am begging you to please tell me what you think! PLEASE REVIEW!**

**-WinterChill**


	40. Underneath

**Sorry for the wait, I am back in school so it is much harder to find time to write.**

**Phase 38: Underneath**

* * *

"So she plans on attacking ROW at their Mars base?" Cagalli questioned as her and Athrun both sat together discussing the recent events. They had met with Milady multiple times within the past few days and they had watched as she laid out her plans and her reasoning. It seemed that John Liene was in the Mars base now and that Milady believed with some extra backup she would be able to capture him and thus completely disrupt ROW. If she did this it was certain that ROW would fall and that the only entity they would have to deal with then would be the PLANTs. Milady's reasoning now was that she believed ROW was preparing to make their biggest move next and that without Liene they would not be able to do anything.

"It's risky," Athrun responded, "but I think she might be on to something. Redemption has been following and tracing ROW's movement's for quite a long time and perhaps now this opening they see is the perfect opportunity to secure peace once again." He had been thinking a lot on it because this could be the answer to everything. Perhaps capturing Liene could link Jayley to ROW, in that case she would be out of the PLANTs and Lacus's name would be restored. ORB would be free and the NEA would no longer be under attack by ROW. This one action could cause everything to fall back into place and to restore the world order.

"But there is a chance that they are wrong," Cagalli said with fear in her eyes, "it could backfire on them in so many ways. We have no idea how well thought out their plan is or if the council will approve sending troops into space. In any case we can't leave ORB unprotected, we need forces down here!" Athrun nodded at this, she was right. It would be unwise to leave ORB unprotected for this gamble, but if it was successful. There were so many variables in the equation. Meiko would certainly head the attack but Athrun had witnessed a moment of weakness in her. What if she wasn't ready to undertake such a task against ROW, they were the people who raised her after all. He knew it was wrong to think back into her past and she would not like to be reminded of it but even he knew what it was like to fight against people that you once fought alongside.

"Then there is the matter of Redemption's own agenda," Athrun spoke now carefully as he knew these were his allies, "I am still uneasy about Milady Redemption. There is something about her that is off and she is always wearing that mask. She's hiding something Cagalli, and I know we owe her but it's hard to trust someone who doesn't trust you." Cagalli nodded, this had been troubling her as well.

"She saved Meiko Virea," Cagalli got a distant look as she said this, "which means that Redemption forces were nearby during the battle with the STING and they did nothing. This is something I do not understand and something she did not explain to us." Athrun had not really thought about that. Perhaps that was true and Redemption had just sat by and watched the battle unfold. He wondered now if that was the case how could things have been different. Perhaps Meiko would have never had to make such a drastic choice and he didn't dare think about the possibility that Uzumi might have lived. Treading on that ground would be dangerous to everyone.

"I guess it is wrong to continue to question them after all they've done for us," Athrun replied solemnly, "but I don't know what to do about it all. Their plan seems good but I don't know how to trust them. I want to know more, and I also want to protect ORB. Maybe the best option for us is to hang back, to sit this one out. The plan seemed to include only the Clyne faction, perhaps we won't even be needed." Cagalli agreed with this sentiment, ORB was a nation that did not intervene in the conflicts of other nations and their military's goal was to protect their nation. She felt bad just backing out but she realized that this battle did not really belong to her. This battle was for the sake of the PLANTs and for the sake of Meiko. This battle would fall down to Lacus and Kira.

"I know Lacus," Cagalli said, "and I know Kira, they will both go along with the plans because of Yaro and Meiko. I believe in them. I believe that if they do choose to go then they will win." Athrun nodded, he believed as well.

* * *

They sat waiting outside the door of Lacus's office. Yaro and Meiko, together once again. Milady had come up to speak with Lacus and Meiko had accompanied her to see Yaro again. He was happy that Meiko had come, it was still a bit odd seeing her again. Everyone had noticed how much time he seemed to spend away now and they all assumed it was because he was spending time with her, but most of his time he spent alone thinking about things. His relationship with Kira had improved drastically over the past few days as his father had sat down and helped him work out some things. It seemed Kira really did understand everything. The times he did see Meiko they had worked through a lot of their anger about the situation they were forced to endure and had recovered much of the closeness they had before they both knew the truth about each other.

"How long do you think they are going to talk things over?" Yaro asked her. Lacus and Kira had a lot of questions for Milady about the plans to attack ROW and take Liene. Personally Yaro was all for the plan because of all that had happened. Liene had been the one who had really killed Uzumi and the man who had tried to twist Meiko against everything that she believed in. He was to blame for everything that happened and he would have to pay for it somehow. Meiko seemed to share the same view. Every time ROW was mentioned a fire and anger filled her eyes and through that he saw how different she had become. She was harder now than ever before and completely relentless about what she wanted. It was clear to him but to everyone else that she wanted ROW destroyed and that it was the one reason that she had returned to the battlefield. He was glad to see that she was free from the past but he felt very odd about her own personal anger. She had every reason in the world to hate ROW, and that was reason enough for her to fight. It was just so hidden. Everyone else saw her as fighting to protect ORB but Yaro saw her real intent deep inside her eyes when she spoke. Meiko had lived to long in the darkness to have such noble and lofty goals; no she was fighting to bring about the destruction of ROW.

"Not long now," Meiko said in the flat voice she was used to speaking in. He noticed her flexing her robotic hand. One of the things she had lost in the battle with the STING had been that hand, it was odd for him when he had first realized it but she seemed alright with it. "Milady does not have too much to say, she just knew they would have questions. Apparently so much depends on the decision of your parents, whether we actually undertake this mission or not. Milady told me that she knows ORB will not enter the battle but she believes the Clyne faction will as this fight will be for the sake of the PLANTs as well as for the world." Yaro nodded at this.

"I have heard them talking," he replied, "they are leaning toward it and I am sure it is the path they will take. My father was captured by ROW at one time, it had caused him to think a lot recently about what it is these people are doing to the world." Meiko had not known that Kira had ever been captured, that was one of the loops that she had been out of. She saw now that she looked back how much Liene never really trusted her or her will to fight for him. Liene had a second nature to understand people somehow, it was how he was able to twist so many people to follow him. He could see into their hearts and he found ways to exploit their greatest fears and their darkest dreams. This was one of the problems with trying to capture him, she had already determined that she was the only one who was determined enough to withstand him.

"If we do undertake this mission," she spoke now with some resentment, "aren't you a solider of ORB? Surely if ORB does not send troops you will not be able to partake of the mission with us." He had not really thought about that. It made him wonder what actions he would have to take in the certain even that ORB did not go and the Clyne faction did. His family had made It clear they wanted him wit them.

"My uncle Athrun can discharge me," Yaro said as he thought out loud, "he threatened to once before. I don't know what to do about the Dreamer though, it does belong to the ORB military." She nodded to this. She expected as much; the machine was very powerful and it seemed like it had taken a lot to develop; it carried a power that neared the power of the Phoenix and that machine had apparently been in develop for ten years. Meiko wondered what the strength of the two machines would be fighting side by side. She knew Milady hoped that the Dreamer would come along with them and Meiko wanted Yaro with her, but she also knew how dangerous it would be. She knew what actions she would take and she knew that Yaro would not react well.

"Yaro…" Meiko began to speak when he interrupted her.

"Don't worry Meiko, I'm not going to stay behind," he said to her assuringly, "I'm not going to let ORB make any decisions for me, I am with you and Redemption no matter what anyone says about it." Worry filled her eyes at this as she wondered if he even realized what it was he was getting himself into. This battle against Liene would fall to her.

"I appreciate it Yaro," she replied, "but when we do get out there things are going to be very different." He had been wondering about that for awhile now, something in Meiko was different this morning, almost as if she had some idea about how everything was going to play out but she had not shared it with anyone.

"What is it Meiko?" he asked as he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. She looked down and away trying to keep it hidden inside, her task and her path. She had no other choice nor direction but the one she saw before her plain as day and now Yaro saw right through her. He noticed her shrinking back into the recesses of her mind, shutting him out as she always had in the past; but it wasn't the past anymore, that reservation was what nearly destroyed her then and he wouldn't let it ruin her now. She was not alone in this anymore, with that in mind he reached out and took her hand catching her off guard.

She looked up into his eyes and he saw tears in her eyes threatening to spill out at any moment. She knew he wanted to be there for her but he didn't realize how lonely her path really was. She would have to destroy Liene and she would have to do it before Liene hurt anyone else. Out there on the battlefield she would be fighting for something that was so much more than he or anyone else realized. She had determined in her heart the day she first awakened that it was her job to end everything, to end the cycle of pain that had begun with John Liene's determination to recreate the world. The fight ahead would all fall to her and she knew that she would have to make sure Yaro understood this before she went in, the last thing she wanted was to put anyone else in danger.

Looking into his eyes she knew that he could see right through whatever she said, so she opted to say nothing as he waited for nothing. He was captivated by how easily her eyes shifted from the hardness of a warrior to the softness of a girl who still held back all that she felt; a person who was whole yet still broken in so many ways. She was so complex to him as she could fight on the battlefield with the strength of thousands yet when with certain individuals face to face she became very soft.

She in turn saw the depth in his eyes and things that she knew had come about because of her own broken decisions. She had caused him so much hurt and pain, she had brought about his emotions of anger and hatred that now threatened to tear him apart; because she had not been strong enough. She closed her own eyes willing the memories to go away telling herself she had faced that and that she had erased the guilt that the past had brought but seeing everything that was in him made old wounds reopen. She opened her eyes again knowing that she wanted to protect him with everything that she had left but she had a job to do. She had an obligation to the world to atone for her past and to earn the redemption that she had gained. Somehow she had to make him understand that she cared about him more than anything, but that she was still bound by her obligations and her own honor. But did that really matter in this moment when there was a temporary peace around her? Did anything else really matter but the fact that he was so near to her?

There was no denying the pull between them, something they had not felt in a long time as a strange energy filled the room and they felt gravity drawing them toward each other. Without thinking Meiko acted and connected her lips with his causing him to quickly wrap his arms around her pulling her closer as he kissed her back. When they broke a part he lifted a hand to her face to wipe a tear from her eye that had escaped and she reached up taking the hand as it fell. She did not care anymore, she was so enamored with him there before her; he was her world now. She fought to destroy ROW because of how it had taken the light from inside of him and she longed to win it back for him.

No words needed to be spoken as she held tightly to his hand and they waited for the adults to finish their discussion. Then for the first time in a long time he saw her smile, but this one was different than ever before. It was subtle but it was real, no longer fake as the ones that had existed in the past. Meiko Virea felt the happiness of just being there with him.

* * *

Milady had left Meiko with the Yamato's that evening as Meiko had made it clear she was not ready to leave. When Milady, Kira and Lacus had walked out the two had quickly let go of each others hands but something in Meiko's eyes made it clear that things had advanced between them just as Milady had suspected they would. Of course she was happy for Meiko but at the same time she was a little worried as she walked down the beach toward the orphanage where she had left Yaro all those years ago. She had left him there in the hopes that he would have a normal life and after seeing ROW unleash destruction upon the world from a distance she decided that he could not be found so she contacted Lacus through voice and asked her to adopt him. Fortunately for her Lacus had met the boy in this same orphanage and she had become attached to him.

Rayla Frost, Maryah Virea; whatever name she went by she was certain that he would be safe with the Yamato's and that their love and strength would counter his nature. She was sure that in that environment he would take after those who raised him rather than those who biologically created him. She remembered the face of his mother clearly and the anger that had destroyed her and Milady saw much of that same anger in Yaro. Sarah Riague had seen too many evils in the world at a young age and it had destroyed her leaving her child to ROW. Of course Liene had taken him in, Liene wanted to use him. Milady had intervened out of spite for the fact that Liene had hidden her daughter from her. Liene had stolen the one thing she loved most so she retaliated taking the child whom he said would be the most powerful. Liene had hunted her for a year, in that time she named the child Yaro and found a way to leave him in the orphanage. She continued to hide from Liene after that with Redemption as her shield she faced off with him multiple times.

Now standing in front of that building she wondered how Liene would react if he discovered who Yaro was and she wondered how the Yamato's would react to anything she said. She sighed considering it all. It was one of those truths she knew but chose not to expose, something that masked just as her face was masked.

"Try as you did you realize now that you couldn't keep Yaro from the battlefield," she didn't even knock on the door and it had opened by an elderly woman who worked with the Reverend as he stood there. He was getting very old indeed, too old to be working with orphans yet he still persisted to care for them with anyone who volunteered to help him. She smiled at the old man's knowledge, he knew who she was through and through and he knew what she had done. Most importantly he somehow knew why she had done things the way she had and why she was the way she was.

"You know as well as I do that destiny can not be stopped," Milady said with authority, "I brought him here because I hoped that fate would hand him a sweeter Destiny than the one Liene had chosen for him. It seems that Liene knows fate better than I, for Yaro nearly brought the PLANTs to their knees and if it keeps going on like this he will change more and more." Liene nodded.

"He came to me," the Reverend said, "and I could tell that the super seed was rupturing inside him. He is so young and it is already springing forth." MIlady nodded.

"And now Meiko's has come forth unnaturally," Milady said desperately holding up her hands, "Liene forced it out. My little girl is safe with me but there is a war within her as her body can't take the struggle with it yet." The Reverend understood this, perhaps he understood more than her and she had studied the super seed for years. She was worried about Meiko and Yaro. The super seed was a power that Liene believed would remained contained within one's self until the person was strong enough to take it's evolution. The basic seed was still accessible by that person but the super seed could lay dormant for a very long time.

It had been discovered that this power was in many people, they were just unable to use it because of lack of physical strength to take it so it never came forward. Milady had discovered that Ulren Hibiki, Kira's father had been the first one to really discover it's existence and it drove him on in his creation for the ultimate coordinator for he longed to see someone who was strong enough to contain it. Kira was strong enough for it, and Milady knew that it would begin manifesting very soon and his power would increase further still. But in Meiko, Liene's S-System had penetrated her mind. On top of that the explosion had endangered her life and the stress of it all had caused the super seed to manifest early in order to save her life. The result, headaches and visions that she could not control. The next thing Milady was unsure of now was Yaro's recent manifestation. He was still too young to be really having signs that she could understand but it was becoming clear to her that he was more powerful than she realized.

"I remember you telling me about Meiko when you came to me so many years ago," the old man said, "you were so lost then and searching for answers. I didn't have very many that you did not already see for yourself. Now I can only say the same thing I did before, you know the girl is strong and that she has endured much. She will make it through this, if anyone can it's her. For you said back the you believed she would save the world, believe in that and she will be able to defeat even the darkness that is in Yaro." Milady turned away wondering how true that was.

"I understand," she spoke softly now, "I just wish there was some way I could help her."

"Well you are her mother after all," he replied, "It's your instinct to protect her but this is not something you can change."

"It is something that will resolve itself," Milady finished for him, "just as I couldn't save Meiko back then yet somehow her heart remained free. She was not overcome by the ideals of ROW and she came back to me. She's alive now because of the light within her heart."

* * *

John Liene stood in front of the monitor and nodded giving the order. His forces had been fighting a battle against rebels who sought to run the ROW agents out of their homeland. It seemed the naturalists were getting more and more hardened against the invaders in certain areas. No doubt the recent movements of the NEA were causing that, but that federation of nations would be of little concern to him once he showed them that ROW was still at large in the world. It had been too long since the destruction of the STING and in that time people thought he had grown soft. Such was not the case and he was going to prove that even if it was from Mars.

"Sir are you sure about that order?" Mike asked as Liene spoke the order clearly to Gilligan who was in the man ROW base; he would then transfer it to their ground forces without question.

"Do you make the decisions around here Mike?" Liene asked as suddenly on the screen before them was a huge explosion as a weapon landed in the center of enemy forces and was exploded by the firepower of nearby mobile suits. Liene smiled as the lines of the enemy military were broken and his own forces advanced. It was then that Mike realized what had taken place.

Liene had used his new weapon, the ANUE. It was something Mike had seen in development months before, a machine that launched lower degree nuclear bombs in the enemy forces. It was quick and deadly but it was also very subtle and crafty. The explosions were very controlled and thus it was hard for the enemy to pinpoint the fact that it was nuclear. No one could blame ROW for nuclear warfare with such a weapon. Mike was horrified at what he had just witnessed and he knew for a fact that much more was to come. So much more was coming from ROW. Someone had to stop Liene before his madness took him to new levels of destruction. Someone had to stop him before he destroyed the entire world.

* * *

Meiko giggled a little as Kiran complained to Kayla about unfairness. She was glad she had stayed with the Yamato family this evening, she had never really seen a whole family interact with each other before and now she saw how it was. Kayla, Kiran, Kira and Lacus were all playing some word board game together. Leyas was there during dinner and so was Trey for some reason, but now it seemed that Leyas was in the other room playing the piano quite loudly and Trey was with her. Meiko wondered about that, was there perhaps something between Leyas and Trey?

Meiko and Yaro had played a game earlier with the other four family members but now they sat talking as Meiko enjoyed the laughter that said she was in a real home. These people were enjoying the peace they had and the joy of all being together again. The wars were still raging in the world and decisions were in process for more fighting but in this moment all was forgotten as they remembered what it was like in better times.

"Leyas's songs are getting more and more interesting as she plays," Lacus said to KIra as they waited for Kiran to make a decision on his next move. It was then that Kayla pointed out something wrong with the move Kiran was leaning toward causing him to rethink his strategy. Kira was sure he would never make his move and they would be there forever.

"Of course her songs are getting better," Kayla spoke up now responding to Lacus's comment, "She is apparently writing for a new album." This surprised the family and Meiko was at a loss for why until she remembered that Leyas had once been a singing star in the PLANTs. She had been on top and she lost it all with her mothers demise. Without that fame and without her fan base still she had no contract for the distribution of any new material yet she continued to prepare in hope that everything would return to the way it was. Within Leyas's plan there was a subtle strength of belief in a better and stronger world. This belief was something that everyone around her were longing for and it was something that everyone deserved.

Kira watched out of the corner of his eyes as Yaro and Meiko spoke very quietly to each other and he noticed the way that Meiko touched Yaro's hand being different than before. He wondered what kind of influence she was on his son as she had lived her whole life in war but Yaro seemed to be improving more and more as time went on, but then again he was only judging on being back for a few days. It was as if just by being there Meiko was slowly driving out the anger and hatred that had so dominated Yaro in the past months. Her presences was clearly changing things and her own actions made it clear that he was helping her own heart heal. He watched as Yaro reached for the TV control and flipped it on. Kira thought nothing of it, they were both young and a lot of things could happen. He remembered his own past and relationships that had formed in his life as a result of war. He remembered how Lacus had helped him confront his own fears and own sorrows.

"Your turn dad!" Kiran said catching his attention and he turned back to the game. Meiko looked toward the direction of the game wondering about a few things that had been on her mind. She also listened as Leyas's song changed to one she had heard months before when she was still under the influence of ROW. She stiffened at the thought and forced it out of her mind as she knew that thoughts of the past occasionally caused her super seed outbursts but it was then that a news broadcast interrupted her mind.

"It seems that the NEA has recently signed an alliance with the PLANT authorities," the newscaster said, "all that has been revealed so far is that the two super powers are to join forces against ROW's recent advancements in northern Eurasia and the Middle East. There was attack on the major nation of Carhistan last night which invovled a new weapon," images appeared in the screen of massive destruction. Anger filled Yaro at the sight as the newscaster continued. "The images were sent from a few citizens in the region who have been desperately crying for the NEA's help. It seems that the ROW military has introduced a new weapon of mass destruction and fear has shaken the territories bordering ROW land at this time. The NEA has tried to contact ROW but with no avail. We will keep you updated with images throughout the day." Yaro then turned to Meiko to say something when he noticed that her breathing patterns had changed and her face was white as a ghost, this was strange to him. He had never seen her weak, she was stronger than anyone he knew. He put a hand on her shoulder and and she looked at him as if something was hurting her.

Not now. She begged her mind to stop but she couldn't stop it, the images were starting to form of destruction as she saw the people in that nation being destroyed and crying out. Her connection to ROW was evident in her super seed as she saw everything they were doing. Her head throbbed as tears burst from her eyes and she begged Yaro to save her with her mind as she could not speak. Her hands moved to her head as she curled up trying to block out the pain.

"Yaro," she was able to get his name out.

"Meiko!" He exclaimed trying to grab her arm but she cried out in pain. Everyone in the room turned their attention to what was happening and Kira stood up, it was the same thing he had seen happen in the hangar a few days earlier.

"No," Meiko let out as more tears streamed down her face and a wave of pain shot through her.

"What's happening?" Kiran asked shocked as Lacus rushed to the phone to call a doctor. Yaro wrapped his arms around Meiko pulling her in trying to comfort her as she cried out. Visions were stirring in her mind of everything that was happening in the world. People were dying and she couldn't stop it.

"Call Milady Lacus!" Kira exclaimed stepping forward and Lacus rushed to the phone.

"Yaro!" Kayla then stood up rushing forward, "you have to stop this! You have to help her!" He looked at Kayla as if she was joking. He was doing everything he could. He did not know what to do.

"Meiko I'm right here," he said to her, "Meiko what's wrong? Tell me whats wrong? I am right here, I'm not going anywhere." With all the commotion Leyas and Trey appeared from the other room. Trey was shocked at what he saw and all at once everyone saw Meiko's eyes open with a bright violet glow that filled the room as she struggled with the outburst before her. Trey had seen her use this before to help Yaro but it hadn't hurt her then. He had thought that whatever power was in her she had mastered but now he saw it for what it was, the same thing that had tried to hurt Yaro yet it was much worse when manifested in her.

"Yaro," Trey said his name now, "I've seen this before! Meiko has used this before! I've heard her say something before, it's the super seed!" Everyone in the room was shocked but Kira knew he had heard the term before as well. Kayla nodded now as she remembered her dreams of it. The super seed was indeed real.

Meiko felt the pain threatening her and she knew it was worse than before as the visions faded but the pain increased. She looked for an escape from it. She exhaled deeply and retreated into unconsciousness to escape it all. Yaro felt her go limp in his arms as her breathing became deep and she was in a deep sleep now. Whatever had attacked her had taken her under again.

"Milady's coming now," Lacus said entering now seeing the scene. Everyone was shocked as Yaro held her close unwilling to let go of her sleeping form.

* * *

Milady and Yzak arrived later that evening as Yaro had carried Meiko to one of the guest bedrooms and refused to leave her side as she slept. Kira was shocked at witnessing the same thing twice in the girl, she was someone Milady was depending upon in battle yet it seemed her mind was very unstable. Milady and Yzak now stood outside the room with Kira and Lacus as Yaro held onto Meiko's hand and watched her sleep.

"It's something Liene did," Milady began as Lacus had asked her what it was that was affecting Meiko, "but to understand that you must understand the super seed."

"What is the super seed?" Kira asked, "we've seen the regular seed many times and I've used it but I've only ever heard this super seed mentioned."

"That is because people thought it was more legend than anything else," Milady replied breathing in, "but as you see it is very real and it is in Meiko. It is in you as well Kira and all your children. It is in many others." Kira was surprised at hearing this but he wanted to know more than just that. "The super seed is an evolutionary trait which was said to manifest if someone was physically ready for it. Therefore it does not really manifest in children, only in full grown adults and it was believed that such a person had to be strong enough for it. I believe Kira that yours has not ruptured because you have had no need of it. Meiko herself was not strong enough to handle it yet, Liene broke into her mind and caused it to come forth early when he used the S-system on her. She was fighting Uzumi and there was no possible way she could break the S-System's control until she accessed the power of the super seed and was freed from it." Kira had known that Meiko had beaten the system and he had always wondered how.

"So that was it," Lacus responded looking down. "All along we have wondered how Meiko actually beat it. So she had to access that energy even though she was not ready for it because she did not want to hurt Uzumi, and still it did not save him." Milady nodded.

"Had Meiko been strong enough to not only access it but control it, it is certain she would have been able to break Liene's control on her mobile suit as well through sheer will to," Milady said with a heavy heart, "and then things would not have been so bad. But after accessing the super seed Meiko began to go deeper into using it in that final battle, she then used it to save herself without knowing it. Her will was to live even though she felt she had no other choice and her will broke another barrier of the super seed but the effects have been awful."

"So she's weak because she can't control this," Kira finished, "she was not supposed to be able to access it because she was not strong enough and now it's too powerful for her to control because she is not strong enough. In that case she is left to be afflicted and tormented by it randomly and you are allowing her to fight in battles?" He was a little outraged by the thought.

"Meiko insists on continuing to fight," Milady replied, "and she is controlled by no one but herself Yamato. Besides that she has a stronger will when she is on the battlefield, and I believe that by her will she is able to exercise some level of control over it at times of heightened emotion. Something you should know is she has learned more about it. It was resting and falling back into a place of dormancy before the battle with ORB, and I believed that it would return to it's normal state leaving her mind just fine but she forced another setback."

"What setback?" Lacus asked.

"At a moment of heightened emotion as before," Milady continued, "she used the super seed though we had warned her before to leave it to rest. She used it to heal Yaro in the aftermath of the battle with ORB, because she saw that his own super seed had awoken naturally and that pain followed. Yes, Yaro has the super seed." Milady saw that Kira wanted to say something but she stopped him, "In Yaro it seems it has awakened naturally meaning that he is stronger than you realize, in such a case he will be more powerful over the next few weeks than I think you are prepared to handle. I believe that he could potentially be strong enough to be the first person in the whole universe to use a fully evolved super seed." Kira couldn't handle what he was hearing, his adopted son, Yaro could be the first ever to really use a power he had just learned existed.

Yaro Yamato was a special boy, Lacus had always believed this and Kira had seen it many times yet this was beyond any of them. A power that had never been fully realized in mankind was revealing itself in two people before his eyes, first in Meiko and now more strongly in his son. How would this effect Yaro's life and change him now. How would this change everything around them? How was Yaro taking this listening to them talk only a few feet away. Kira remembered what it was like to discover he was the ultimate coordinator. How would mankind react to the appearance of these super seeds?

"What will It do to me?" Yaro asked now and they all turned to him as the saw a coldness in his eyes. He turned to face them with a clear anger on his face, "what will this super seed do to me?"

"It will give you heightened power," Yzak replied not liking the look he saw in Yaro's eyes now, "we are not exactly sure what that entails but we do realize that if you do gain the full evolution of this seed then you will be stronger than anyone else alive at this time." Yaro turned away thinking about this. With such a power he would be able to defend the people he cared about, no one would ever have to suffer again.

The conversation continued on as Kira and Lacus were concerned about Yaro's new evolutionary state. Milady and Yzak said everything they could to put the minds of the people at rest. Milady would have much rather held back all information of this from them but she knew she could not. It involved them and it was imperative that they understand the things that were unfolding around them. These power could effect the lives of their children as well in the years to come. The new generation could be the first to really change.

In the end of the conversation Milady had decided to let Meiko stay with the Yamato's as she knew Yaro would not wan the girl out of his sight and Meiko was as safe there as she would be with redemption. Now that the outburst had stopped all that would remain would be for her to wake up and confront the fact that her weakness was now known by more people. She would not he happy about this but she would have to cope with it. Milady did affirm to Kira and Lacus that their movements would have to begin within the next few days, they would have to make a decision soon.

In this Milady knew they were treading on dangerous ground. She saw the open opportunity before her. Liene was not well defended but Milady also had begun to realize that perhaps there was a reason for this. Perhaps Liene wanted them to come. If that was the case then Milady had begun to fear that Liene might know the truth, and what would he do if he did? What would he do if he knew Meiko was alive?

* * *

The next morning Leyas and Kayla sat together on the piano bench as Kayla was helping Leyas write lyrics. The last time these two had written a song together it had turned out very beautiful indeed so they decided to try once again. Kayla was giving suggestions and getting irritated as Leyas seemed to not be focusing very well. Trey was in the room listening as he was always around now. Kayla was a little irritated with this, she was supposed to be writing with Leyas yet Leyas was spending most of her time talking to Trey.

"Leyas!" Kayla exclaimed catching her attention as she glanced toward Trey.

"What Kayla?" Leyas asked her, obviously distracted by something Trey was holding up. The two started laughing almost at the same time as Kayla was a little more outraged.

"Trey why are you here?" Kayla suddenly said standing up as the laughter of the two ceased. Trey seemed confused by the question and turned to Leyas who was more prepared to answer the question.

"He is here because I asked him to be," Leyas responded to Kayla a little surprised at her sisters fuming look. "Trey is my body guard Kayla, and as such he is to accompany me most of the day anyways, and besides what is it to you? This is my writing session and I can have whoever I want here." Kayla had not known that Leyas had asked Trey to be her body guard. Kayla had observed that the two had become close friends in space where they worked on their mobile suit together. Kayla then looked back between the two and thought about it as she had not before. Everyone saw these two as just innocent best friends but now she saw the clear connection between them. Whatever had once been friendship had changed to something more, the two of them spent too much time together now.

A wisdom returned to Kayla's eyes now as she understood what was happening around her. She liked knowing the truth and hated not understanding things. Now she understood the two of them were so similar despite their differences in ages. Kayla was a little troubled by that part, he was practically an adult and Leyas was still very much a little girl. Whatever the circumstances Kayla knew she would not able to just sit back with this taking place.

"It is a writing session Leyas," Kayla said trying to reason with her sister, "there is no reason for him to be here. No one is going to be able to assassinate you here, you are perfectly protected." Leyas turned to the piano keys as if she did not hear her little sisters complaint.

"Well I want him here anyway," Leyas replied, "and he doesn't mind being here." Kayla glanced at them both again and sighed. She would have to alert someone about this soon.

* * *

"Mother!" Lacus turned to see little Kayla bounding up to her with an urgency in her step. She smiled at the bright energy of her youngest daughter and almost laughed at the sight of Kiran rolling his eyes behind Kayla. She loved her children dearly and having them all here together again was a relief to her. She noticed her little girl seemed to have a sort of distressed look on her face and she wondered what could be troubling her little girl. Kira had told her that Kayla thought she could see the future in her dreams. She wondered how true that was and she also wondered if this was what had Kayla all worked up but another look at the girl convinced her it was something else entirely.

"What is it Kayla," she said taking a seat on the couch and motioning for Kayla to follow. The little girl sat down but the troubled look did not leave her face as her mother waited for her to speak and give some indication as to what was on her mind.

"I've been watching Leyas for a little while now," Kayla spoke up getting straight to the point, "and I am a little disturbed by what's been happening. I was trying to write with her and I realized that every time I see her now and with everything that's been going on. You see I'm worried that no one else has really noticed it and I"m not sure that it's okay. Do you understand?" Lacus was very confused as to what her young daughter could be talking about. Something to do with Leyas.

"What ever are you talking about Kayla?" Lacus asked her, "I really don't understand."

"Leyas and Trey!" Kayla exclaimed now bringing new understanding to Lacus as at that moment Kira entered the room, "mother I am worried! I think they like each other, maybe they have even fallen in love with each other and if that's the case who knows what is going on! No one's been watching them or even realizing it!"

Lacus turned to look at Kira who had turned white at the words he heard. Lacus had suspected something could be going on, but nothing to give her alarm as it gave the others. Kiran also looked a little surprised at what he heard. Leyas was his twin after all and the two of them usually knew what was going on with each other at all times, it seemed the war had made them both a little distant from each other now.

"But he is four years older than her!" Kiran protested which caused Kira to look even more horrified at the thought. His little girl could not be growing up that fast could she.

"Kayla I am not sure they are more than friends," Lacus tried to reason and she looked at Kira with wide eyes.

"You don't hear them laughing together?" Kayla asked, "and don't tell me you haven't noticed them looking at each other! I even saw them holding hands under the table! She asked if he could be her body guard Mother! Surely that gave you some clue as to the fact that they are getting on a little too well for their own good!"

"Wait you let him be her body guard?" Kira asked Lacus. This was the first he had heard of it and he concluded that Lacus had dealt with it without consulting him because she had no idea that something could be going on between the two teenagers. He did not know if he liked the idea himself, his Leyas was still just a little girl and nowhere near old enough to be constantly alone with someone that she could be falling in love with. Trey was still young, he knew himself what it was like to be a teenage boy around a beautiful girl. With everything that was going the two did not have much supervision.

"She did ask if he could be her body guard but I thought the age difference was enough that it gave me no alarm," Lacus responded to Kira's words, "I thought nothing of it. But now I see that we've been turning our eyes when we should notice things like this!"

"Notice things like this!" Kira exclaimed, "I have no idea how I haven't noticed! I've been so busy I guess, the thought of Leyas growing up just never crossed my mind! I just can't imagine something like this happening so quickly!" Kayla smiled, now that her parents knew something was going on Leyas would probably not be allowed to have Trey over twenty four - seven and then Kayla and Leyas could finally write without distraction.

"That's just weird," Kiran said, "I'm sorry, I just can't imagine it!"

"Well you're going to have to have a talk with her Lacus," Kira said and Lacus tilted her head with a bit of a sarcastic look about her.

"Then you are going to have to talk to him!" Lacus exclaimed, "that ex-ROW agent has been spending almost all his time with her and I am sure that you understand the gravity of that situation so be her father and take care of it!" Kira smiled at Lacus's words. She was right of course.

"We will both get this settled," Kira said shaking his head, "and soon before we get involved in another battle!"

* * *

Meiko awakened to the sky outside the window and the sound of Yaro snoring in the chair beside the bed. It was quite a funny sight the way he was slumped over asleep. She then remembered the events of the night before and her super seed outburst at the images that were portrayed on the television screen. A new sadness filled her as she did not understand why this kept happening. It was supposed to be getting better, it was getting better but now it seemed to be returning stronger. Something inside her was not letting go of her and she had no way to completely escape it, she just had to embrace this super seed as a part of her though she did not understand what it wanted from her.

She rolled over reaching her hand to the heart necklace around her neck. Her mother had been there the night before she felt it in the air around her, and she knew that she still needed Milady even though she did not want to admit it. No she needed Maryah Virea, her mother to comfort her once again even though she knew that Milady was still holding something out on her. She resolved to go back today and speak to her. Meiko did not understand what it was she was hiding she only knew that it made no difference. She had spent so long wondering who her mother was and she had forgiven Milady everything the moment she found out who she was, she just had a sinking feeling that there was something more to the story she did not know. It had taken Milady a bit of time to tell her the truth, perhaps time was all Milady really needed. Meiko then heard Yaro stirring and turned back to him as he awakened. She smiled at how funny he looked, he was probably uncomfortable sleeping on that chair all evening.

"I'm alright," She spoke first making sure he understood that much, "and I am sure that I will get through this weakness, it's a part of who I am that I have to face." Yaro nodded and seemed surprisingly calm.

"A weakness that I guess we both posses," he responded as she sat up and he looked her directly in the eye making her understand now. "I have it as well Meiko and Milady says that mine will progress even faster than yours. It seems that we both posses this terrible super seed."

"Then you must understand," Meiko replied looking away, "it's not a path that one can take with another. Each is different and for some reason mine is different than yours. Call it what you will, destiny or not I have a path I have to take regardless of what you want Yaro." He nodded for he did not understand what his own path would be but he knew when the time came for him to take it he would be ready for anything. He had lost enough by now to know that life would not go according to plan, all he could do was protect what he had left through everything and he would fight to protect as she fought to destroy.

* * *

**I mapped out the ending of this story to fit it within the next 12 Phases. I can't believe there are only 12 next then this story will be done and I suspect once I get to the final five phases will go by pretty quick! I've already started looking into the plot lines for Immortal, which I decided to write around the same time Redemption was birthed based on one plot line idea that I had. I have started putting together the pieces of all the ideas I've had throughout this entire process and I think what is coming out of it is actually a lot more interesting than I originally intended. Gundam Seed Immortal will be a lot darker than this story and a lot grittier. I am really excited about the direction I am going to take with the next story and I hope you all stick with me through the end of this story and till that one is completely written because it may be another long ride!**

**Well I want to know what you thought about this chapter. I'm in another transition stage in the story and those are usually the hardest to get through! So please review because reviews make my day and inspire me to write, even little reviews that say I love the story or I love the characters just make me so happy! Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter, I had the most reviews I've had in months for a single chapter and it gave me the inspiration to put Gundam Seed Immortal into pre - production and to get this one into it's final stages!**

**So please review! And thank you so much for reading!**  
**-Winter Chill**


	41. Prelude

**Phase 39: Prelude**

* * *

Leyas was uncomfortable as she sat there beside Trey in her mothers office with her parents both staring at them with the most peculiar look on their faces. She never thought they would go this far, especially since they had not seemed to care only a few days ago. Suddenly her relationship with Trey had come up in way she had not expected and it seemed the 5 year age difference was troubling to her father even though Kayla seemed to say the exact difference was 4.423 years; something Leyas had not even paid attention to. Trey and her had become best friends and recently they had both discovered a deeper affection for each other. They were both very calm and reasonable about everything but it seemed her parents would not be reasonable.

"It has come to our attention that you two are in some sort of relationship," Kira began, obviously uncomfortable with this. Leyas smiled at this, it was his first time dealing with the boyfriend/girlfriend issue in one of his children. She wondered if he would have the same sort of talk with Yaro and Meiko.

"You make it sound as if we have done something wrong," Leyas said lifting her eyebrows with a sarcastic tone of voice, "yet you've been oblivious to it all this time? It's hard for me to believe that, so why is it that now you start making a big deal of out it?"

"Leyas how old are you?" Kira asked her and to that she raised her eyebrows so he continued, "and he is 19? You're still a child Leyas!" Trey seemed to be more uncomfortable now, he had no idea that his relationship with Leyas would have sparked any reaction like this, her parents did not seem to care that they were spending more and more time together. It had never dawned on him that they did not realize what exactly was going on.

"I'm sorry sir," Trey spoke up now, "I would have come to you to request permission to pursue a relationship with Leyas, but you did not seem to care when it happened. I didn't really think much about it, I've never really dealt with a girls parents before, being in ROW and not having much time for relationships." This was another thing Kira was uncomfortable with, he knew very little about Trey beyond the fact that the boy's past was questionable. He was an ex-ROW agent who lived his life in the organization that had destroyed so many people. Sure he had reformed his ways but Kira had no idea what kind of person would he attached to an organization like that for so long. It was hard for him to look at his daughter and see her with someone whom he was not sure about himself.

"It's not completely your fault Trey," Lacus replied with a distressed look on her face, "Leyas should have known better than to just keep us in the dark about this." Kira looked at Lacus in disbelief. To him it was mostly Trey's fault, he was legally an adult and Leyas was still a minor, granted he had not been in legal society for years it was still common knowledge that such relationships were always looked down upon.

"I didn't know you were in the dark about it all okay," Leyas responded angrily, "it's not my fault you've never made your rules clear."

"Then we can make them clear right now," Kira responded with an edge to his voice as he turned to Trey, "don't sleep with her, she's fourteen! Better yet don't touch her, don't hold her hand and don't even look at her as anything more than a friend until she's at least seventeen if you can wait that long! If not then just leave her be!"

"DAD!" Leyas protested standing up as she turned bright red by what her father had just said. Kira looked at her expression then to the clear uncomfortable expression on Trey's face and his mouth nearly fell over as he turned around trying to keep his cool. Lacus was shocked as well by the expressions on the two teenagers faces and for the first time ever Leyas saw her get angry. Lacus was the most calm of the two parents and Leyas knew her disappointed look but she had never seen her mother angry before and at that moment Leyas turned an even darker shade of red as she realized both her parents had caught on.

"Don't tell me," Lacus said clearly struggling with the idea, "you're fourteen Leyas!" Trey stood up as if he was going to say something but before he could say anything Kira's hand flew to his face in a strong punch knocking him to the floor.

"Daddy!" Leyas yelled, "you're being ridiculous! How old were you when you first…"

"That is irrelevant!" Kira declared, "anything that I ever did in the past is irrelevant to your situation Leyas! Do you have any idea what you are dealing with! It's a little bit more complicated than you realize."

"Not from where I am standing," Leyas responded.

"You are too young!" Lacus replied in a very serious tone, "too young!"

"I'm so sorry sir," Trey said as he stood up from the ground, "I love Leyas, I mean I've never felt this way about anyone. If there is any way I can prove it too you! I want her safe more than anything! What can I do?" Kira looked into his eyes and part of his anger faded as he saw the truth to what Trey was saying. He looked back at Leyas who had tears in her eyes over how far things had gone.

"Daddy, I'm sorry," she said as tears streamed down her face, "we never meant for it to go so far, neither of us. I can't explain what happened." He saw his little girl and he couldn't deal with the fact she was growing up to fast, things were too far and the two of them were in too deep now to completely end it. Kira glanced at the look between Leyas and Trey and wondered what he could do about this. Leyas was too young, yet he knew what it was that they were feeling and he knew the things he had done when he was young; all the things he regretted.

"I understand," Kira said cooling off, "I understand that you think that these feelings you feel now are monumental, but neither of you know what is going to happen in the future. You are emotionally attaching yourselves to one another and if anything happens to either of you only hurt will follow the other. You have to understand that. We are in a war and it's more dangerous out there, and even if we weren't in a war it's still too soon to tell what is going to happen between you two. You may find that you drift apart even though you think you won't and it that happens you will find more pain in a broken relationship where you went all the way than in one where you were chaste."

"I don't think…" Leyas started to say.

"But you haven't really thought about this have you?" Lacus asked backing up what Kira said, "you both haven't really thought things through. You need to take a step back and look at the world, but I fear it could be too late."

"I am not going to force you apart," Kira spoke now in a reasonable tone, "but I'm not going to allow you to spend anymore time alone together, and Leyas you are being appointed a second body guard. Do you understand why?" Leyas nodded, though she thought it was a little unfair she saw where their worry was coming from. Trey also understood, he realized at this moment how much of a mistake it was to just think of her as older. He loved her so much he just forgot how young she really was. Kira was being beyond reasonable in allowing them to still remain a little more than friends and he saw that Kira was being a cautious father the way he should be.

"I understand sir," Trey responded, "and I'm sorry we let things get so far."

"I'm sorry too," Kira replied, "because now I will ask you Trey to prove that you love her." Trey nodded, Kira was her father and of course he deserved that much.

* * *

Meiko sat on the ground next to the Phoenix as Milady stood there and after listening to an account of Meiko's visions she grew convinced that things were escalating even in the few days Redemption had spent in ORB. Meiko's knees were bent inward as she held onto them after reliving everything. What she had seen. ROW had introduced a new weapon that had destroyed millions of lives and she saw that John Liene was happy about something.

Milady was just happy that her daughter had come to her with all this first rather than go to someone else. After returning from the Yamato's Meiko had been very silent but when Milady had approached her everything had come out, Meiko needed someone to tell and she was scared of alarming everyone else. What Milady saw now was a childlike dependency that Meiko was reverting to and she understood it as she had once been the same in so many ways. She knelt beside her daughter and put a hand on her arm. She knew that Meiko understood what was happening around her in more ways than she had ever let on. She knew Meiko understood what it was Milady was most afraid of and she knew that Meiko understood that Milady was the only person who really knew her path. Meiko was her daughter and she knew her almost better than she knew herself.

"Liene is still in Mars according to intelligence," Milady sighed as Meiko nodded, "and even with the recent events the base remains the least defended of ROW's known outposts." Meiko nodded. She understood what it was Milady was trying to say about all this. Everything was too perfect; the timing and all.

"He knows I'm still here," Meiko said with fear in her eyes, "and he want's me to come! Mother, he want's me to come! I know that I can't ever believe anything he says and I know that I must face this but despite everything, am I ready? He's leaving himself wide open and I don't know why that is but he has to have something he is holding back!" Tears started to stream down Meiko's face as she thought of all the things Liene had done to her and all the things he had forced her to do. She couldn't bear the thought of being pulled back into that by anything he said and she feared this the most. She didn't want to be forced back into a life of pain.

"Meiko!" She hear Milady say her name and she felt her mothers arms wrap around her. She turned to her wrapping her own arms around the woman who had saved her from everything. "Listen to me Meiko I know that he has something up his sleeve, but I also know that we can beat him at his own game! We are so much stronger than he is, you are so much stronger than he realizes! You have changed into someone he should fear. If he thinks he can play with your emotions and turn you back into his puppet his is disillusioned. You know who you are Meiko, now it's time for you to show the world what it is you have become." Meiko heard her mothers encouragements and leaned on them. She knew now more than ever she needed her mother to say these words.

"But he always knows what he is doing," Meiko whispered, "I want to fight him but if I can't beat him so many may be hurt. I have to destroy him, but he's so strong." Meiko heard her own words as they cut through her heart, she wasn't supposed to be like this in any way. She had told herself she was stronger than this, she had fought to be stronger than this, yet at this moment the thought that Liene knew she was alive terrified her. She had wanted to face him as a ghost of his past without him understanding how she could have survived but somehow he ha figured everything out.

"Meiko," Milady sighed her name as Meiko let go of her and looked her in the eye wiping away the tears.

"I don't know how he understands everything," Meiko spoke now with determination, "but I do know what I must do to change things. You know how I will react to change things. Please let me do this my way, with no interference." Milady nodded, she would give her daughter whatever she wanted.

"Whatever way you choose is the way that it will be," Milady affirmed, "but I do warn you that his words may sound right, and he may say things that will tear you apart, but please always believe in me. I want to protect you Meiko, despite how it seems sometimes." Meiko nodded.

"I understand," Meiko replied, "I just wish you would be more honest with me about everything. There is so much I want to know that you seem to be holding back on."

"Meiko I know it seems that way," she responded thinking over everything she was still holding back on, "but there are some things that I haven't even faced myself. There is a whole other side to me that I have forgotten and until I can really come to terms with everything I can't really speak about it too much, do you understand? I'm not as strong as you are." Meiko nodded, she thought that maybe she understood what her mother was talking about but she did not agree.

"I'm not strong," Meiko responded in a whisper now, "I just hold things in, most of the time." With that Meiko smiled thinking about how ridiculous she was being right now. Her mother smiled with her and when she laughed her mother laughed as well. There was no time for her to waste time worrying. There was a whole world out there waiting for her and all she had to do was to look it in the eye and shout at it. She had to face it, no more time to deny it. Liene could not break her, not when she had the people she cared about to lean on. In this moment just looking in her mothers eyes she knew she had the strength to face him and she knew that she would not really be alone in it.

"We are leaving tomorrow according to my schedule," Milady said.

"Then let us make sure we are ready for this," Meiko replied with determination in her eyes now. When the battle began she would stand her ground. She turned then toward the sunset as she knew in the next six hours everything would be determined then in the morning they would depart, with or without help.

* * *

Athrun waited and watched his watch as Kira finally showed up to his office. He had asked his best friend and brother in law to come so that he could speak with him about the affairs at hand. Kira was never normally late so it was a bit surprising, even more so was the expression on Kira's face; he seemed a little flustered but he had come anyway.

"Family troubles?" Athrun asked understanding what Kira's look meant.

"I'd rather not discuss it," Kira responded taking a seat, "you'd understand if you had daughters." Athrun nodded, daughters were something he did not presently understand as he and Cagalli had only had two sons. He often wondered what it would have been like to have a daughter but they had both decided that their two sons were enough. Kira and Lacus on the other hand had just ended up with a larger family.

"So what do you think about Redemption's plans and offers?" Athrun asked moving on past the subject as Kira wanted him to. Kira knew this was what Athrun had wanted to discuss and he was partially prepared for it though his mind was still on Leyas whom was not allowed to see Trey for the evening. Kira turned his thoughts away from the whole issue toward where he was leaning with the Redemption issue. He and Lacus had both discussed things extensively with Yzak and Milady and they had made the decision unofficially to go along with Redemption's plans. They were just waiting to see what ORB's stance was before telling Redemption their decision, not that it would make much of a difference. The way Kira saw it John Liene was the whole reason these wars had begun and he was the person they need to focus on destroying before they could win back the PLANTs and secure Lacus's freedom.

"We're with them one hundred percent," Kira replied thinking over it all again, "they way I see it we could end everything by taking Liene prisoner and her information is extensive. Lacus and I both believe that this needs to end and soon, there is no way we can just sit and wait it out any longer." Athrun nodded, he thought this would be Kira's position as it would be the most active.

"I had a feeling you would say that," Athrun sighed thinking about the stance ORB would have to take, "The ORB council votes on it this afternoon but I think I know which way they will go. The moment Redemption leaves no one really knows what is going to happen with the PLANTs. They were beaten by the Phoenix but will they really hold back from the war when the Phoenix leaves? Granted they are really looking for Lacus Clyne, thank goodness they don't know she's here now. The point is I think the general feelings of ORB officials now is that Milady's plan is more of a gamble than anything else, you're going up against a very strong military force with the assumption that Liene for this one moment is off his gaurd."

"I know it sounds crazy every time I put it that way in my mind," Kira affirmed shaking his head, "but I just don't see any other options. We could wait for ROW to attack again but if we give them any more time they will become stronger and strong. On the other side their eyes are on ORB once again because Redemption is here and I think ORB will be safer if Redemption leaves and if they win which we can help them do. We could end everything in space if we do this."

"And you can make things worse," Athrun replied, "don't forget what Milady depends on most is a girl who spent her life in that organization. You never know what Meiko is going to do, that's the thing about her; she doesn't take orders from anyone and she is completely unpredictable." Kira understood this but he had fought alongside Meiko twice now and he he didn't see her methods in the same way as anyone else. Meiko was dangerous yes but at the same time she was very strong and she seemed to know where her heart was now. He had witnessed so much since she returned and it had made him think about the past quite a bit.

"Uzumi believed in her Athrun," Kira pointed out though he knew it was still a wound for Athrun, "he believed more than any of us and look where that has gotten us. She saved us twice. I think that if we can depend on anyone in Redemption's camp we can depend on her." Athrun had not thought about that, he had not thought about his son's opinion on the matter at all. Uzumi had believed in Meiko, so much to lay his life down for her.

"You have a point," Athrun looked down as he thought about it more. A wave of sadness washed over him for the whole thing.

"And besides it's not just her, Yzak is our friend to," Kira continued, "he believes in this and has for sometime. I think we should trust him and them despite how things seem right now. This may be our last chance to end everything."

"But what if it fails?" Athrun asked now.

"We get back up and try again," Kira replied, "because we have to keep fighting for a better world. The world Uzumi and so many others believed in."

* * *

Hands stayed down as Cagalli stood in front of the council watching as everything she predicted unfolded. The council was unanimous, they had just voted to keep all forces in ORB, to protect their nation over the interests of the world. It was part of who they were as neutral and Cagalli knew this was the stance they would take. She dearly wished she could do something to help but this was the only stance she could take in this situation. She had to be certain that her nation knew she was with their decision.

"So we will remain," Cagalli spoke now with authority, "we will protect our nation above anything else and our people. We are ORB and we will not attack another nation, we will not allow another nation to attack us and we will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations. We must maintain our stance despite the actions that we have been taking in the past months toward the Clyne faction and toward the world." With that she dismissed the council and turned and walked out. She was driven to her home and she saw that Kira and Athrun were walking and talking together but Kira was just leaving to walk inside. She stepped out of the car quickly.

"Kira wait!" She yelled stopping him from going in. He almost laughed at his sister's yell, in so many ways she still had not changed.

"What was the decision?" Athrun asked as she approached him and he put an arm around her shoulders. He just looked in her eyes and he knew what it was.

"We will remain," Cagalli responded to Athrun, "but I did get them to amend to send Yaro and the Dreamer as a sign of good faith and thankfulness for what Redemption did for us." Kira was glad to hear this, at least his son would be with them.

* * *

Lacus walked alongside Milady Redemption through the ORB military base where Redemption was completing their resupply for departure the next day, it seemed that no matter what ORB's official decision was they were going. The announcement from the ORB government had been completely expected by everyone but what they had not expected was that the Dreamer would be released to go with them. The turn of events was indeed favorable and now Milady walked with Lacus as the former PLANT chairwoman talked out her own decision.

"We are with you Milady," Lacus spoke with conviction, "I have talked to Kira and all my officials on this one and we have decided that we will follow you in this battle for the sake of the world. This is something we have to do. We have looked at every angle and we have understood every danger and potential consequence and we are certain that with your leadership this task can be completed." Milady smiled at this, she had wanted the Clyne faction with her more than ORB on this one. She was happy that things were working out between the two groups and Lacus seemed to have no reservation based upon how many believed Milady was not to be trusted. Lacus did wonder why it was she wore a mask but she didn't let the mask stop her from seeing the important things. Redemption was fighting for the sake of the world and now this fight could bring them to the end of everything.

"If we succeed of course I am sure we will be able to link the rise of Jayley to ROW," Milady responded, "and in that instance you will have your life back and the battlefield will end." Lacus nodded she had thought this through as well. If they could end Lacus's bad reputation in the PLANTs and get her name cleared then her children would have much peaceful lives. Leyas would be able to return to singing and her sons would be able to return to school in the PLANTs. Everything would fall in place if they suceeded. Lacus did not dare think of what could happen if they failed.

"Failure is not even something I have considered," Lacus smiled as she said this, "I am sure that we have right on our side and with the Phoenix and the Dreamer we are sure to have the odds tipped in our favor." Milady nodded.

"But what about Kira's new mobile suit?" Milady asked. She had been wondering if it was finished or if the Clyne faction was ready to unveil it. Lacus thought about that one. Athrun had given Kira the Infinite Justice and that machine was up to date and upgraded but it was nothing compared to the machine Kira was working on. Something she wondered if he would ever complete.

"Last I checked it was very close to complete," Lacus responded, "but still in its trial stages. We're not sure how everything is going to play out with that." Milady smiled.

No matter what went on they had power and they would for sure have enough of it to stop this war from escalating. Milady had put all fear out of her mind at that. If Meiko could find the will and strength to face Liene again, knowing that he is prepared for her, then Milady could have the strength to look at the odds and smile. The next day they would be off on a gamble that she was sure she would win. For the sake of the world she would win.

* * *

Athrun and Kira were standing in front of Kira's new unfinished mobile suit looking over some details as it had now been determined that Kira was going and Athrun was not, he wanted to make sure he could help in some way. They were talking over some details when they heard the voice of Shinn approaching with Lunamaria.

"Kira, Athrun," Shinn spoke their names with a bit of unease in his voice, "Meyrin tells us that the Minerva is staying in ORB as well as all the ORB forces but the Clyne faction has forced an alliance with Redemption. What is that all about?" Shinn questioned. He did not like being kept out of the loop when it came to these things despite the fact that he had nothing to do with the politics of it all. He had insisted long ago that he remain in the military even when Cagalli requested of him to make a political speech years before he had turned her down. He just felt that it wasn't his place and that he had made too many mistakes in the past wars to be in the public eye.

"ORB's official stance should not surprise you Shinn," Athrun responded to his remarks, "we've been the same for years, always done things this way. You know the official line of being neutral." Shinn frowned more at this, yes he knew and he understood that was what the nation was about but he hated the idea of sitting around and doing nothing while Yaro Yamato got to go out and fight for what he believed in.

"The point is Athrun we both feel that we should get the opportunity to decide where we fight," Lunamaria spoke now getting more to the point than Shinn would have. "Meyrin says since the Minerva is staying we have been given official orders to stay as well, but I say that since we are not a part of the ORB military we have a choice. This caused a bit of a fight earlier and Shinn and I decided to clear things up with you." Athurn smiled at the idea that Meyrin and Luna would be arguing over something so trivial. It was true that the Minerva was not officially connected to ORB and it's pilots were under no government constraints. Athrun had made sure that this would be the case even when the Minerva joined with ORB so that Shinn and Luna could make their own decisions.

"As far as I see it both of you are free to go if you want to," Athrun said looking back down at the screen that he and Kira were addressing, "you are correct in assuming that you are not a part of ORB's decisions and your decisions are entirely up to you." Shinn looked a little shocked at how simply that was declared and how simple it sounded when it was declared.

"Then we are going!" Shinn announced, "there is no way we are going to sit around here!" Luna nodded and Athrun looked at them and started laughing. Kira joined in and soon all of them were laughing as they thought about it all. They had been fighting alongside each other for so long now and they knew it would always be like this. They would always stand up for one another in each battle that came and when things got dark they would stand together as one and fight off the darkness.

* * *

She was silent as he sat beside her on the cliffs of ORB, he knew that they were all leaving the next day by now and he was not exactly sure how she would react to the news that the Dreamer would be with them. She seemed happy but also a lot freer than she had ever been in the past; despite that there was still a burden of something hanging over her. He did not push her to tell him anything as he would have in the past, for they had gone through so much and now just being together was enough. He red hair was loose in the air, not half bound back as it had always been in the past and he noticed that she seemed to look faraway now.

"Don't worry about me Yaro," she spoke now addressing his observations without him even asking. She understood and she was very observant. He was worried about her, and she knew that; it was because he had lost her and now that she was back she knew that he was holding on to her. This time he had determined that he wouldn't loose her again. She turned to him with a slight smile. "I'm alright Yaro, but I need you to understand that there are things I have to do. I will be honest with you, I am frightened but I also know things will be alright; Uzumi promised me that much and I trust him." Yaro did not understand what she was alluding to but he nodded, still she felt the need to continue. "I am going to face John Liene in the next battle. I am certain that there is no other way to secure him. With his lies and his twisted nature he will divide us before we really have a chance to stop him and if that happens then there will be no turning back. He is cunning and he is ready for anything. Believe me when I say this, we are walking into a trap and I am sure it has been set for me."

"What?" Yaro questioned. He had not even thought of this; he was sure that no one else knew Meiko was alive but then he realized Liene trained her and she had made a rather grand entrance into the battle against the PLANTs. That entrance attracted so much attention that Liene was sure to have noticed it and in noticing it he left himself vulnerable.

"It's true," Meiko said softer now, "I believe that he is waiting for me up there. He knows that Redemption is reckless enough to take a chance and he knows me well enough to know that I want him dead. In that I am sure he has some card up his sleeve to try and throw us off but I know that I am stronger than he is now. I know that I can take what ever he has for me, but I am not sure about everyone else so I need you to promise me Yaro. Promise me that no matter what happens you won't listen to a word he says. If he somehow finds a way to try and divide and confuse everyone you have to hold strong. Please promise me." She took his hand then and looked him in the eye. She wanted to make sure that he understood this, for he was the one that was most likely to be in danger; for he was the most reckless.

"I promise Meiko," he responded confused, he wouldn't dare refuse her anything but he did not understand exactly what she was promising. What could Liene say that would ever sway him? Liene was the man who had killed Uzumi and caused the confusion in the PLANTs, he was the person who ruined everything.

"Yaro," she whispered now, "I know it seems senseless but you have to trust me. I know him between than anyone by now, he's mad yet at the same time he is strong. If he can find one slight way to undermine anyone he will." Yaro nodded.

"I believe you," he replied, "I may not understand, but I believe you." That was enough for her, she seemed more satisfied with that answer. What he was not satisfied with was her distant look and her very unsure gaze off toward the horizon. "Do you ever wish things could have been different Meiko?" She looked at him questioning what he meant so he continued "Like I mean do you ever wonder what would have happened if you had not grown up in ROW." At this point she understood what he was asking and she understood what her own answer really was. She had changed in so many ways and now she had accepted her life.

"I have wondered," she said looking down toward the ground now, "so many nights I used to wonder but now I'm free of them. What's past is past and though it was hard and though so many bad things happened, I can't imagine them being different. I did that too many times and I have accepted now that it is time to move forward into whatever lies ahead. You understand?" He nodded at her. "I don't feel so alone anymore, I have Milady and Yzak, I have you and I know I have Uzumi."

"I guess that's a good way to look at it," he responded thinking about it.

"I've also learned something about my past," she said with a bit of happiness, "this may sound shocking but Milady is my mother." He looked at her shocked.

"What!" he exclaimed.

"It's true," Meiko responded as tears filled her eyes, "she was always watching me from afar waiting for a chance to save me from ROW and she found her chance when I was dying after the STING explosion. I wondered for so long," he hand moved to her heart necklace, "but now I know the truth."

"Well at least you know who your family are," he sighed thinking about his own dilemma, "I have no idea who mine were."

"Well I don't know who my father was," Meiko said to lighten him up a little, "she says he died in battle but she won't even tell me his name. I don't know why but it seems to make her sad so I haven't pressed on for more information."

"But why wouldn't she just tell you?" Yaro asked wondering about it. What could be so difficult for Milady to talk about if he was dead now? He wondered whether there was something more to her story than met the eye. He was happy for Meiko but thinking about his own family mad him sad. He wanted to know who they were or at least that they were dead so that he could know that they loved him but just were not around to care for him anymore. The whole thing made him feel quite alone in the world, without much of anyone who was really exactly like him. Meiko had been an orphan but now she had a mother and what he saw on her face was a free expression that he longed to feel. He longed to know what it was like to have a family of people who were your blood.

"I don't know," Meiko sighed thinking about it, "but it doesn't make much difference either way, he is dead and gone. At least she let me know that he was the best sort of person." Then he saw her smile again and it made him wonder even more what it was like. He loved the Yamatos and he thought of them as family but he knew that there was a longing that would always be in his soul to know who his real family really was. His thoughts turned away from that as it only made him sad but he found that what they turned to was the super seed.

"What do you think about the super seed Meiko?" he asked her now and he saw fear fill her eyes at his words. She had thought a lot about this in the past few days, especially with it's reawakening. She was a bit worried about it's effects on her, but she knew Milady was convinced that this super seed would help them greatly in the future. To Meiko at this moment it was a great burden and it was something she had wanted to keep to herself but that was not it's nature, now everyone knew that there was a weakness in her and that it was unpredictable and at any moment it could take her into a world of nightmares. The whole thing was too uncertain and too hard for her to deal with when trying to deal with what she had to do to stop Liene's poison from continuing to spread through the world. After all it was also Liene's fault that her super seed was prematurely awakened. It was the power that had stopped the S-system but her accessing it had not made her strong enough to save Uzumi then. She worried that it would remain a weakness for longer than it should have, she longed for it to completely evolve but she knew that she was not ready to take it.

"Honestly," she spoke very softly as she spoke to Yaro, "I am not sure how it will help me, and because it has seemed to cause more harm than good, I'm a little frightened. I don't know what to do about it or how to stop it and it is unpredictable, but I am certain that I am strong willed enough that it won't prevent me in the coming battle." This was the face they had to put on.

"Don't' worry Meiko," he responded, "they say mine is ahead of yours, that mine is evolving. In that case I will be able to use it to counter yours, like what you did for me." Tears filled her eyes at those words, she had not wanted him to find out about that moment. It was a time she struggled with what to do, because that moment was the one that had set her back, and that left her with the super seed still as an unpredictable measure of power.

"Yaro…" she said his name but he interrupted her by catching her mouth in a kiss.

* * *

Leyas was perhaps the simplest of the Yamato children. She was in every way what Kira had been in his youth, a sensitive child who was eager to please and ready to fight for what she believed was right. When it came to the people around her she wanted them all to be safe and she felt that she often had no way of really fighting the way the others did, this is why she reacted to situations the way she did. She had withdrawn from so many when ROW was pushing them into hiding and taking away their lives and when Uzumi had been killed she had made up her mind that she wanted to be like him, but that was so hard. She had no skills beyond her song so she had made up her mind to sing again in hopes of one day soon returning to liberate the PLANTs from the lies that Jayley had brought them into.

It had been right after this that she had met Trey, he was lost after everything and he was quite out of place in the Clyne faction as he was a natural and an ex ROW agent. She simply became friends with him after realizing that something else she possessed was kindness. What she did not realize then was how much he would really effect her. He had let her tag along when he did things for the Clyne faction and he had taught her the basics of how a mobile suit worked. She didn't have to beg him to teach her the basics of piloting, he was eager to help her in any way he could. Together they made an unlikely pair but they found themselves always with each other and it was then that they realized that though they came from different backgrounds, they cared about each other so dearly. He wanted to protect her innocence and sensitivity to life and she wanted to help him fight so that he would never be alone in the fight again. They did not think much of what others would think as they only saw each other in everything they did.

Now they stood apart with so many people between them as they would not be allowed to be alone again. It did not seem fair to Leyas but she did not want to disappoint her father. Kira had given her leave to fight alongside him with the mobile suit they both piloted, by that was only after Leyas tested and did a training session with Athrun so that he deemed it safe. She didn't question it because she knew Trey had taught her enough to stand on her own out there, and she was not really alone in any fight because of the joint mobile suit. She sighed and looked at him with longing eyes. It hurt to be so far away from him now.

Now they had to wait, until Kira decided what to do. Until Trey could find a way to prove to Kira that he did indeed really love her. She had no doubt that he would find a way, for she knew that he loved her and she knew that she loved him too.

* * *

"So we will leave with Redemption then meet with the Clyne faction at the coordinates that Milady gave me," Lacus spoke to Kira as they both stood together watching the Justice and his unfinished mobile suit being loaded onto the Reversal. They had been discussing how everything would play out for quite a bit of time. It was much simpler when they could verify everything with each other, they did work better together than with anyone else and they had been solving problems together for quite a long time.

"I wish we had ORB with us on this one," Kira responded, "but I guess that can't be helped. At least we know they will help us if anything goes wrong." Lacus looked at him with a confused gaze. Kira not one to think about what would happen if things went wrong, he was the kind of person who believed that since they were in the right they were destined to win. Even when things looked bad everyone could count on him to not give up on a good outcome. To hear him say something like 'if anything goes wrong' impacted Lacus as she realized the real gravity of what they were getting themselves into. There were a great number of things that could very easily go wrong and even Kira realized this. Liene was playing some sort of game with them as he somehow allowed the information of his current vulnerable whereabouts to be made known.

"No matter what happens out there I believe that we are strong enough to put up one of the greatest fights of our life," Lacus said reassuring him, "we have everything that is right and good on our side. We are fighting for the fate of the world and under that mandate I believe we will succeed." He loved hearing her talk like that and he smiled at her causing her to smile back. They had fought so long for peace in the world and tomorrow would be no different. The path they took was as it would ever be because they took it together and they knew that their efforts would not be in vain because there had to be a way to change the world and to save the world.

* * *

Liene stared out into space as he could almost see the earth spinning and the threads of decision traveling around the globe. His existence was wider ranged than ever and as such he had more enemies than ever before. They would be coming for him soon and he knew this, but they would not get what they bargained for. Sure they could take the base, they could destroy his lab and experiments but they would also loose something that was important to them. John Liene understood the darkest side of human nature better than anyone and he knew the damage simple truth could do when it was revealed at the wrong time. All the work that Milady had done would be in vain and he would have to make sure of it. If ROW was defeated it could not be by her hand, for he would turn the world against her before long and he would even turn her daughter against her. He smiled as he thought about it.

Then there was the matter of the traitor, Mike Shustre; he too would meet his end but even that was something that he had planned to change the tide of the battle and maybe even the war. He realized now that Meiko was too far gone and too determined to stop now so he would have to twist her mind and focus his attentions on the stronger one; he would have to focus on his A1, Yaro Yamato. The boy whom Milady so cruelly stole from him and the one who was destined to carry the first fully evolved super seed. It was something he had always known would happen and he saw traces of it as the boy became so strong in such a short amount of time. He was changing and now more than ever he was open for the lies of Liene. First Liene would turn Yaro against himself and then the boy would be so weak and malleable that it would be only a matter of time before Liene could turn the world against him and thus stop those who opposed ROW. Perhaps Yaro would be as Liene had always planned, perhaps he would be able to even make Yaro defeat Kira Yamato; for Liene realized now that Yaro was the only one who could really do it. For the light of the super seed would be strong enough to break through every defense.

Things were going in Liene's favor, now all he had to do was wait for the group and their futile attempt to stop him. Their futile attempt to beat him at his own game, on his own playing field under his terms.

* * *

**Entering the final Ten, they do have titles which I will reveal now**

**Phase 40: Onward Towards the End**  
**Phase 41: Fighting Back**  
**Phase 42: Hatred**  
**Phase 43: Echos of the Darkened Past**  
**Phase 44: Ultimatum**  
**Phase 45: The Crossroads**  
**Phase 46: The Battle for Mankind**  
**Phase 47: The Light of the Seed**  
**Phase 48: Unbroken**  
**Phase 49: Yaro's Path**  
**Phase 50: Shattered**

**These are tentative titles which I have given each level of the story as I am pretty shocked that this is all that is left to write. I'm pretty sure most of it is battle! I am really excited about this! So much in store for you all then it will continue of GSI, but this one will pretty much wrap up the story as a stand alone piece just in case I never actually get to write the next one! But Yeah so review and tell me what you thought about this chapter, I know it was slow but I had to get through this part and then next chapter will be another slower chapter with the battle beginning in Phase 41. So we are so close to done! I am so excited!  
**

**REVIEW! REVIEW!**

**-Winter Chill  
**


	42. Onward Towards the End

**Phase 40: Onward Towards the End**

* * *

It wasn't fair but it was life, this is what he told himself as he and Alicesia sat together in the hangars of the ORB military base, watching as very soon they would be leaving. She wanted to go with them, so that she could go with Kiran but she could not because she was a part of the ORB military, ever since she had made the decision to become so she had sealed their fate in this matter. They would be separated as he was loyal to the Clyne faction over ORB, even though it meant he would no longer pilot the courage; it was something that he would have to give up.

"We can call every once in awhile," Kiran said, "but it's dangerous because we don't want them to track us. It also seems like I have no mobile suit at all, so it's back to the bridge for me but I'm hoping something else works out." He didn't want to be demoted to the bridge but he knew even that was worth more than not fighting at all.

"You'll do great Kiran," she responded, "and I'm sure you will all come back. I just know that I will want to be up there with you, but I understand why I can't. You know we'll hold the fort down here and that we'll keep everyone in our thoughts." He smiled at this. They were best friends and comrades now. He would have never expected their friendship to grow so much on the first day he met her but they had become very close and they had faced quite a few fears together. They fought alongside each other against the STING and again when they fought to get the Minerva back to ORB.

"Well this is for now," Kiran said, "but who knows, we may be fighting alongside each other again, or even better we may be standing alongside each other when peace and the defeat of ROW is announced to the world. The odds are against us but we have Meiko Virea now." She smiled back at him as he flashed his goofy grin. There was no getting him down; even in the face of danger he was optimistic about their chances.

"Yeah," she looked down, "but even then you have to be careful. No one is invincible."

"No one except me that is," Kiran replied with a large smile before laughing a little causing her to laugh. "I'm serious Alicesia, just watch, I'm invincible." She laughed a little more, she would miss this part about him. He always knew how to lighten a mood and make her laugh again.

* * *

They stood in a line now. The Clyne faction leaders along with the Redemption leadership. There were pilots there as well all standing as the ORB embassy bowed before them in thanks for their help. The group would be departing now very soon. Meiko Virea hovered nearby in the Phoenix, unwilling to stand in the group even though ORB asked her to be there. She would rather not take an honored place in the line that belonged to heros. Her road was one where she would never be like them, she was too marred by blood to even try but she accepted that. She was a person who would do what she had to now to get the job done.

There were no news stations covering the affair, as no one in the world was to be aware as to what was taking place. To them the Redemption ships were leaving alone, there was no mention that Lacus Clyne or Kira Yamato were ever in ORB and thus were not departing into space with the odd faction that had suddenly appeared now to suddenly leave. No one knew that the Dreamer was leaving with them either, that information was kept under wraps.

Meiko's arms were crossed as she watched from above, listening as well to Cagalli give a final word of respect to those who were leaving. It must be hard for her to watch people who defended her nation as well as people who were family to her board ships bound for space and a mission that was not certain. There was a blank cold expression on Meiko's face as her eyes glanced out the windows toward the cliffs and in the distance the school that she had attended while undercover here. She had not visited it again since being here. Such dark memories were very distant from her and she knew that she had come to terms with the things that she had been forced to do. The difference now was finding a way to get other things done. She sighed, they were moving onward toward the end and she had no idea what that end was but she knew that she was ready to face anything; even death.

The plan for now was as follows, head into space and meet up with the Clyne faction. Once there the leaders would meet and discuss what actions to take next. They would need a battle strategy and they would need to asses their troops. They would be given a day to do so according to the plan laid out for Milady, they then would immediately set out for Mars. That part of the trip would take a bit of travel but once they arrived at the base Meiko had no fear that they would win whatever battle was ahed.

Not long now. She saw that Lacus Clyne was moving forward to hug Cagalli and so was Kira Yamato.

"It's going to be alright," words that were spoken to her once by someone in the nation. "I know so much more now." She smiled as she wasn't sure if these voices were real or her imagination, but any memory of Uzumi Zala was welcome.

"Forward Forever," Meiko spoke out as she saw the officials boarding the shuttle and she smiled now, "onward toward the end."

"And you will make it such an end, to be remembered in the halls of men forever," the voice spoke again. Meiko smiled once again. Of course he would be right.

Into space she went.

* * *

Lacus Clyne walked alongside Kira and Andrew Waltfeld. The ships had just met up with the Clyne faction at the rendezvous point that Milady had sent to the Clyne faction and Lacus had transferred herself and her family to the Eternal immediately. She had spoken with some of her officers that seemed skeptical but she had assured them that she knew what she was doing in her position. She wasn't sure what it was that caused everyone to be so fearful of attacking ROW full force; they had strong allies that were going with them and most importantly they were strong enough to handle this. They had stood against the STING and now from what information they got, Liene was vulnerable.

"I'm still surprised that Meiko Virea survived, super seed or not," Waltfeld had been brought up to date with the things that had taken place on earth as well as the shocking news that had brought Meiko back to them. They had done their best to explain but he was still shaking his head over it.

"She's a resilient person," Kira sighed, "but you would never know it from speaking to her. On the battlefield she is so centered and focused yet in person she's still a child. It's easy for me to see how the men are very concerned with what we are doing. She was a ROW agent and is thus deemed unpredictable but she is also very different than she was then."

"She reminds me of you," Waltfeld said with a smile, "It was very difficult to picture you as a mobile suit pilot when I first met you and even harder to see you as a strong enough threat just by looking at you but that's what you are. I don't think we should worry about Meiko's loyalties, yours were in the right place in the end and even though it took awhile to get Athrun on board he choose the right path in the end and so did Shinn. Just look at the history of who we have fought. Those who's desires were in the right place eventually joined up with us, the same goes for Meiko. I believe she want's peace that that's why she destroyed the STING and that's why she's back again with us."

"I believe that as well," Lacus spoke up, "Besides, there is something about Meiko that makes me trust her. She's here to help us, not to harm us and I believe that in the end she could prove to be the tip in the balance that gives us the upper hand. Kira, you fight well with her too and between the two of you I think ROW's lost." Kira liked hearing this from Lacus but he also knew that things could be vastly different the moment they stepped out on the battlefield. One mistake could cost anyone their lives and he had just lost the fear of it all enough to not loose his nerve. He knew many pilots that he had tried to train that once they realized what the battlefield was really like within a mobile suit they moved onto something else. Such moves were the right ones to make, he was glad that they did. Some people just didn't belong on the battlefield

"I don't know about that Lacus," Kira sighed, "the task ahead will require all of us."

"That is true," Waltfeld said with a laugh, "but hey, it's just like old times. Remember when we went in to take on the PLANTs in the days of Chairman Zala? No one would have predicted that we would come out on top. Our battled are based on impossible odds, but we have right on our side."

"And the seed," Lacus replied to that, "for I guess it's always been with us in those darkest moments, giving us strength when we need it the most. We are powerful and strong enough to win this, and we will fight toward that goal."

* * *

"You're doing nothing wrong if I am here," Meiko said shaking her head. Leyas and Trey had been wanting to talk to each other and apparently they weren't allowed to be alone together so Trey had asked Meiko to come speak with him and he had subsequently relayed the message to Leyas to come as well. Once there they two seemed very nervous that they were going to be caught by Leyas's parents and Meiko was just upset to be dragged into everything. This was not something she understood how to handle herself around. She had just learned of Trey's inappropriate relationship with Leyas and she had decided she was on Kira and Lacus's side. Leyas was still very young and though Trey was a good guy, he had to see that the younger a girl was the more unpredictable she was.

"But what if my father get's angry?" Leyas asked Trey, ignoring Meiko's comments. She wasn't very happy about having Meiko there. In truth Meiko sensed that Leyas didn't like her very much. It probably had to do with everything that went down with Uzumi. Meiko didn't blame her for it all, but she was a little upset with the dynamic.

"Then you deserve it," Meiko spoke up a little louder now, she didn't have time for this, "next time ask Kayla to be your third person." With that she left the room. Trey almost laughed at what had just happened but Leyas's face stopped him. She seemed very distressed by everything.

"Hey it will be alright," he assured her, "I will wait for you, and in that process I will fight to figure out what I can do to prove to your father that I really do love you."

"I know you will," she replied, "I just really miss you." He hugged her.

"I miss you too but it's not forever," he whispered, "three years will go by before you know it and then this whole thing will change." She knew she would have to hold onto that. Time would go by quickly for him, but she was not so sure it would go by fast enough for her.

* * *

Images of the past danced through her mind as she watched everyone's business in the Clyne Faction base's hanger. She saw memories of a forgotten identity and forgotten age, these were the memories she had tried so hard to forget; for the past was the place where her life had been darkest. So many events had driven her to madness and to choices that were more broken than anything. Her own mistakes had caused so much pain that it had separated her from everyone she knew at the time; she had become an enigma and had been forced into a life without her friends nor her family. Milady Redemption or someone more, she hated the fact that she was so distant from everything but it was like that long before she changed her name over and over. She had been searching for a purpose and for a meaning in life so she had buried herself so many times that it was still hard for her to sort through it all. It was near impossible for her to tread back into the maze of time but she had done it before and she had watched her life and her choices play before her; she had watched herself become a poison that had driven so many events.

She had found solace in forgetting and changing her identity, even inventing a new past but she could not erase the scars of all the darkness. For there was no solace in anything but her increasing need for redemption. No action that she did fulfilled the ache inside her soul so she pressed on still searching for that place where she would be renewed and freed. She watched from the window as her daughter walked with a confidence, her little girl had broken free of every guilt and Milady wanted to know how. How did someone just bury their past the way she did because no matter how much good she did she could not bury it. She could not break it, for it was there and it would always be there.

"You're still alive," she heard Yzak's voice as he entered the room she was in, "and you're strong. You can't just ignore anything anymore. Come clean and let it all be laid out there. You will never be free if you can't speak of the past and Meiko will be in danger if you do not." Tears rolled from Milady's eyes as he addressed everything that controlled her soul at this time. What he said was simple, but was it really that simple? Liene could not stop Meiko through mere words alone, the very soul of freedom and determination was present within her, no truths would change that.

"Meiko knows Liene is more of a liar than anything else,' Milady responded stubbornly, "she will not listen to him over the woman who gave her back her freedom, besides she knows better than to let him speak; for it is in his words that he has power." Yzak did not agree with Milady on this, Meiko knew Liene was a liar but she also knew him well enough to know when he was telling the truth and though Meiko could see through his motives; once a bond of trust is challenged then it is hard to reform. Milady of all people should realize this through all the things that she went through in her youth. If Liene could question Mieko's trust in Milady he could cause a breech between them no matter how strong Meiko was; the thought of betrayal, especially when backed by truth, was a hard one to excise once it had taken root in the mind of someone.

"And you know the things that could be used against you," Yzak pleaded, "you know the past better than anyone, and you can see the things that you did wrong. You haven't given Meiko or anyone else a real chance to forgive you because you have held back on everything. You know I forgave you, but you opened up to me and you confessed; but now you still bottle everything inside and it could cause more hurt now than ever before. Listen to me Milady, tell Meiko everything." She knew him to be a blunt and sometimes dry person, but he did know everything about the past. And in knowing everything he had tried so hard to help her but she was resistant.

"But if I do," Milady replied turning away, "it would give Meiko another option, and I am almost certain she would take it over me." Milady didn't want her daughter to choose any other path but one alongside her will but she knew that if Meiko knew the truth of everything she would choose the brighter road.

"You don't know that Milady!" Yzak protested, "You are afraid more of the opinions of the people around you! Listen to yourself! Do you really think Meiko is better off without the knowledge that she has more choices? What if something happens to you? Besides its better for her to hear everything from you than from him."

"He won't touch on that subject because it would strengthen the bonds in Meiko's heart to the Clyne faction," Milady snapped back, "because Liene want's to divide us! If he does speak to her and reveal anything he will twist it in such a way that it will be refutable," she suddenly realized this. There was no way Liene would say anything that could not potentially make Meiko stronger. If he said anything he would do so to divide Meiko from the others, and with the truth the only person Liene could really hurt now was Milady. So any choice was hers, this was what she believed.

"You can't believe that Milady!" Yzak protested, "We both know you're wrong now."

"No," Milady shook her head turning back to him, "I see so clearly now what Liene wants. He want's Meiko's blood yes, but he also want's to hurt me as much as he can. He wants me to pay for all I've done to him and he wants to exact his revenge. I now know what I must do." Yzak didn't understand but a solemn look came over Milady now, he then realized.

"I see," he responded a darkness filling his eyes. He didn't like it one bit, and though he knew what it was he didn't understand why it had to be this way.

"I will make sure that Meiko comes back alive," Milady said with determination in her eyes, "That is all I've ever wanted and now I will fight for that truth. You know Yzak, I am a coward in so many ways but when it comes to my little girl I would face an army of millions rather than to watch her fall."

* * *

Another ship gone, and one less defense for the base. What was happening around him didn't make sense as there seemed to be a general calm over the atmosphere, but he felt an undercurrent of something else; there was fear around him and for the first time in a long time he felt as if he was not being filled in. Liene was uncharacteristically silent about everything and he was focused on one thing, moving the supply of the crystals they had harvested from Mars. He had simply said he is taking a precaution in case the base and the mines were attacked again as they were before. Mike knew that this had something to do with Redemption's appearance on the global stage. The organization was out of the shadows now and he wondered how Milady was able to fulfill her plans now.

Mike had spent a lot of time thinking back to the days before everything changed; thinking back to the time when he was just Meiko's teacher. She was dead now, gone forever along with all the hope he had for the defeat of the world. He had joined with Jayley and had been feeding her information but he wasn't even sure of himself in that. How could someone like Jayley defeat ROW when even Meiko's best efforts failed? His other question was how could redemption win without some champion to fight for them? He knew that Milady had taken the other child from Liene's lab but he also knew that she wouldn't do the same thing Liene did; Milady was too good for that, she would find a home for the child and in that case she would not have that resort. No Milady's plans fringed on Meiko's wavering, and when Meiko did waver it was in too dire of a situation and she was too late to do anything else but die. How could anyone believe in anything else after having their one hope destroyed? Meiko was Mike's one hope for the future of the world. She was to be his redemption and he had cared for her as a daughter but when it really mattered he was powerless to help her. Guilt had eaten at him for so long and he couldn't escape that.

He couldn't understand what there was to do now. What fight did he have? He could try to leave ROW, but here he was at least giving information to Jayley and he wondered how long he could keep that up. Liene was growing more and more distant and it seemed he didn't trust Mike anymore. Mike wasn't afraid of this though because he knew if Liene knew what he had done he would have killed him already and he hadn't. There must be a reason he was still alive.

* * *

"So we need to make sure whatever we do the attack is not fronted by Meiko," Milady spoke now. Lacus, Kira, Andrew Waltfed, Dearka Elsman and a few other officials sat together discussing the coming battle plan. The Clyne faction had compiled a list of it's forces and due to recent upgrades they were quite ready to face the enemy at hand. Milady's people had hacked a mainframe and gotten a layout of the Mars base, thus giving them a layout of what they were up against. It seemed defenses were low but it made everyone wary to the idea that they would be up against much more than they had initially planned. Milady was saying that Meiko would lead the attack and they all knew that she was saying this because Meiko was not under any military authority, but rather a one man army that would not pay attention to battle plans.

"I am sure that Yaro could front the battle credibly," Andrew Waltfeld said, "the kid has reached a very high level of combat, he was one of the main reasons ORB was not overtaken and I believe that he is strong enough for this."

"No," Kira responded, "He is strong enough but it's too risky, he's more emotional when it comes to this battle. I believe that I should front the forces." Milady was partial to both ideas, Yaro was strong enough but Kira was right, he was emotional. She then thought more about it; who's to say Kira wasn't emotional about this? After all ROW had done a lot to hurt and threaten his family. EIther one of them might be a bad idea at this point.

"But you're emotional about this as well," Milady spoke up, her authority shining, "think about it Yamato; they have hurt your family and you are angry about that, You can't deny it. You're angry about what they have done to your family and in truth we are all angry at them when it comes to something. We can't solve this by looking at the emotions of individuals. We need a strong front line yes, but we also need to someone to carry up the back end of the forces. I say that we should send Yzak in the front along with Shinn Auska and Lunamaria Hawke. That is as strong a frontline as we can get, next we launch Yaro with the next wave of forces and have you take the back end of the forces. If we calculate the times of the waves correctly and with speed we can take out the main towers and get the forces in line perfectly to defend our main attack force. Meiko I suspect will do all she can to help but she is very much like me. Her tactics depend on speed." They all listened to Milady's basic plan and it did sound very strong. None of them could deny that it sounded very strong.

"You're right about us all being emotional this time around," Lacus responded to the plan, "and I think you are correct in saying that we have strong enough lines with your plan. It's the timing that is going to be the most tricky part and with Meiko Virea's strength I wish we could get her into the plans, but I understand why we can not. I think we should consult our technical experts for timing. We also need to know how many gun towers the base has. We need a complete weapons readout if we are going to be prepared, in that case when we get close we should have Kira and Kiran hack the bases mainframe." Milady nodded, this was a good plan. The father and son were both very quick to think through the algorithms and defenses of the mainframe.

"That sounds good so far, what about escape routes?" Dearka asked, "we need to know what to do should things take a turn for the worst. We are strong but there are always unpredictable factors in battles such as these."

"You're right of course," Milady said holding up a map, "but in that case there are craters on the surface of Mars that stretch out of the range of the main guns. In a case of a bad situation getting the ships down into these sheltered areas should be easy and flying through them should lead us into a good escape place."

"What about Liene?" Kira spoke up now, "there is a possibility he could use the same tactic to get out, if he is still there. There is also the possibility that he has that area defended just in case of the use of that tactic."

"Liene is intelligent and he knows how to plan battles in his favor," Milady replied, "but he has no imagination when it comes to things like this. He see's us as the type that will fight and fight and fight. He would never expect from knowing me that we have an escape plan. Besides that if he is in the base we will be surrounding it as best we can to cut off all his escape routes." Kira took this as a good answer to his question. The conversation continued on as the covered all areas of concern and interest. Some of them still couldn't believe what they were about to undertake. The outcome of this battle would be critical. It could make or break the work whatever they accomplished here.

They all felt the weight of it the day they had decided to participate in it and they all knew that here the had a chance to end everything. The question was would they actually end it? They had strength on their side and the truth of justice, but was that enough? Milady also knew that this was a turning point for Meiko. She would have to fight against the organization that had both raised her and broken her to their will for so long. Uzumi wasn't with them this time to help her, and Yaro was too broken himself to really encourage her. Milady was trying her best but it was going to be interesting for sure. The battle ahead was sure to change everything and they all prayed it was the last one they would have to fight. Kira had the sinking feeling that this was only the beginning of the end. If this was so what exactly was ahead for them? Would they all come out alive?

* * *

The sweat felt sticky on her skin as she leaped into the air again intent on landing the stunt to get away from her opponent when she realized she would be within reach of another. She raised her arms in defense the moment she landed blocking the man's punch with her metal arm. He cried out in pain as she realized she had once again rolled her ankle wrong. Angrily she jumped forward fighting off the other four with a series of complex movements and well laid punches.

Yaro watched from the side of the ring where he was working on adapting the Dreamer's OS to the conditions of the environment on Mars. Ever since they arrived at the rendezvous point with the Clyne faction she had been off and on sparring with Redemption's martial artists. She was apparently the top in the world for assassinations and martial arts as well as many other forms of hand to hand combat when in ROW; it all made sense since she was trained as a weapon for her entire life. Recently she seemed worried about being in the same shape she was in before destruction of the STING and the Pain. She looked like she was doing great to him, but then again he had only seen her fight once before the accident, and that was against a less than worthy opponent.

He heard her yell out in rage and turned to see her in the air with her foot slamming into the head of one of the men she was fighting, but he then realized why she had yelled. She was unable to get out of the stunt and she hit the ground hard on her side. He jumped up before seeing her leap off the ground to get back into the action, but her movements were no longer fluent as before. She stumbled into a punch and tripped out of a flip. He saw anger on her face as she jumped into the air higher than she had before to knock into one of the few opponents still in the match. Once again she made the hit but was unable to land on her feet and she crashed into the side of the ring.

He disliked watching her hurt herself over this. She wanted to be the best again and he saw that she was angry that she kept making mistakes, and her scores were apparently lower than they had been in ROW. He turned away back to his work when he heard her cry out and this time it sounded like she was in pain and all the fighting noise ceased.

"Meiko?" he spoke her name loudly as he turned to see her gripping her shoulder and sitting on the ground as the two men that still remained were both at her side asking what was wrong. He jumped up toward the ring and was quickly by her side as he saw the pain on her face. He wondered what move she had done wrong this time. It made him uneasy that everything in her landings and precision seemed off; she was so strong that it was very odd to see that strength turned against her as she was unable to trust her own muscles and strength. She seemed to read his concern and she did not welcome it. She was stronger than almost anyone in the world physically, she was just trying to adjust to the changes in muscle formation as a result of her injuries. Her timing and muscle memory had changed so she made more mistakes than normal, but she was still strong.

"I'm alright," she said to him as he helped her stand. He was uneasy about the expression on her face and the words coming from her mouth. It was then that Yzak entered the ring with a small thing of ice and handed to her. She took it and held it close to her shoulder, leaning on Yaro as she did. He wondered exactly what she did and there were whisperers among those she had been sparring with.

"The Doctor's told you not to push it," Yzak spoke in an irritated tone, "and you know Milady would not be happy with this."

"What exactly happened," Yaro finally spoke up.

"This," Meiko took the ice from her shoulder and tried to lift it with a pained expression on her face and a gasp as it fell limp, "it's the shoulder Liene shot. The muscles have healed but they're much weaker than they have ever been in my life because of the down time and the healing process. On top of that they have to carry this prosthetic hand which is heavier than the other. The doctors said to watch out when working it and not to lean to much on it but it's my dominate hand." Yaro hadn't expected that much information but she gave it. He had not even thought back to that day, when Liene had shot her. He had forgotten about that as it had been overshadowed by the pain of loosing her entirely.

"Which is why hours of sparring is not something you should be doing," they turned to see Milady enter with Kira and Laucs, "you need to rest Meiko. You will get everything back in time, you've already progressed so much but you shouldn't strain yourself." Meiko understood this, in time she would have everything back but she was impatient to be at the same balance level as before. Her weight, her dexterity, and everything else had changed enough to get her off track and it was her nature to fight for what she wanted so she was fighting to get back everything she had before and in the process she was reversing progress.

"Don't worry Meiko," Yaro said to her, "you'll get it."

"I know," Meiko spoke defensively now as she moved out of his grasp on her and moved toward Milady when she realized she was floating, so someone must have turned off the gravity in the room after she got hurt. The room was able to simulate gravity so that people could train better but it took a lot of power so they turned it off every once in awhile.

"We have the mission plan," Kira spoke up now.

"Yes that is why we came," Milady responded holding something out for Meiko, "as you are our ally, and your own army we decided not to place you under any command. Just be careful out there and understand the actions that we are taking." Meiko nodded. She turned back to see Yaro was right beside her once again and she let out a small smile at that when she noticed the worry on his face.

"Don't worry about me," Meiko spoke firmly, "I can fight out there, I just can't do my complicated movement for hours on end. I'm fine and strong enough to fight." She turned back to Yzak, Milady, Kira and Lacus to see them all still very serious so she rolled her eyes and floated toward the door.

"Wait Meiko," Yaro launched after her, following her out the door. This caused Lacus to look at Kira in concern when she noticed a strange look on Kira's face.

"What is it?" Lacus asked him.

"I don't know," he replied as he thought of the sinking feeling he had. Something was off and he didn't know what it was. He had a feeling growing in him for awhile that he was missing something but he didn't really express it nor pay it much heed till he realized that it was growing now. He knew he was missing something and he had no idea what it was nor how he would figure it out.

* * *

"The base is almost completely evacuated and the robotics are ready," Gilligan said as he floated alongside Liene down the halls of the Mars base, "your ship is ready, we await your orders." He did not understand what Liene was planning but it seemed that the base was heavily armed with non human entities and programed surprises. It was almost as if he was expecting an attack and did not want to sustain any human losses. He had also ordered a ship with extra defenses on standby and had employed some very interesting back up technology. It didn't make sense what he was planning and the idea that there was going to be an attack still seemed very odd.

"Keep the standby order," Liene said with a smile, "we are almost ready. I am sure that things will come about very soon and if I am right then everything will go according to my plan. Get the recording set up and order Mike to standby on the mainframe wire action. We need to make sure we are ready for anything but there is no stopping us." Gilligan didn't understand everything but he obeyed. Liene smiled twistedly. Everything was falling into place and everything was in order. This was truly the beginning of the end of Lacus Clyne's ideals, the Yamato family, ORB, Redemption and Meiko Virea. He had the upper hand in this battle and in the the hours to come he knew that the moves he made would shape the world. Everything that he had done came down to this battle and the one to follow. It was all falling into place perfectly.

* * *

**I know, I know. It's not a good idea for me to go randomly MIA but this chapter was surprisingly very hard to write. I stress the very hard. We are getting so close to the end. Now we are in the final ten. Next chapter will be shocking, I am sure. **

**So be prepared for incredible things.**

**Now I want to know what you thought about this chapter and I want to know what you predict will happen in the next phases to come. This will give me inspiration to finish the next chapter sooner! So please Review, review, review!**

**-WinterChill**


	43. Fighting Back

**Phase 41: Fighting Back**

* * *

It was a silent moment. Nothing but the hum of machines around her as she waited for the green light. The ships were moving swiftly and with the shadows of the planet as the new the sun would rise for Mars soon and they would launch their attack. Crash, crash, burn. She had waited for this moment for so long. ROW would pay for the darkness they spread over the land, she would make sure of it. Her breathing increased as she felt hatred flowing through her veins. She was not in denial, it was strong within her and it drove her forward. Today Liene would pay.

Meiko's eyes darkened as she sat in the cockpit of the Phoenix. She was ready for this moment, for the next hours would determine so many things.

She heard Redemption's alarms start up as the level one battle station orders were given. Once the main bombardment ceased the mobile suit teams would be launched. Meiko herself was biding her time. She knew that Liene was playing a game here and she would fight back silently, waiting.

* * *

Shinn smiled as he received his launch orders. The way the plan was set to play out.

"Shinn Auska, Destiny launching!" he declared as his machine sky rocketed into space. He was immediately joined by Lunamaria Hawke and he observed that ROW was getting ready to use their main guns, should the mobile suits get close to the base. A few ships had made it out of the hangar and he smiled as he recognized the repetitive nature of ROW's robotic units launching onto the field. He quickly moved into the battlefield destroying a robotic unit as he went. He saw that the units had been upgraded, as they seemed more aware of what was going on around them. Lunamaira fired at one which subsequently dodged her blast.

"They're different Shinn," Lunamaria said to him. He smiled, they were different but they were still no match for him as he realized that they were more heavily armored now but their weaknesses were still relatively the same.

"Stay alert," Shinn ordered, "We can do this, just look for the weaknesses in their weapons and armor, use high power blasts and don't be phased by them." He also broadcasted the message to the other machines that had launched from the Clyne faction and Redemption side. He smiled as he jumped into the battle. He saw Luna using speed to her advantage and realized she was onto something. The machines were heavier and they were compromised by the planets small amount of gravity as well, it was harder for the robotics to fly. He smiled and put his thrusters to full blast. They would have to beat these machines to get to the main base. He sincerely hoped the Phoenix, Dreamer and Justice launched soon.

* * *

Kira typed quickly as the busyness of battle was around the hanger. He wanted his new machine to be finished by somehow all systems still wouldn't check in. He knew the battle plan counted on him soon in the Justice but he knew that it would make ROW more nervous to see a new machine.

"You'll have your day in that thing," Dearka said rushing into the hangar and toward Kira, "But right now our units being called out, we have to get out there! We can't let everyone else have all the fun." Kira heard his words and knew he was right, they had to go now, there was no more time for this. He quickly floated away from the machine and toward the Justice nodding to Dearka as he went. No matter what machine he used, he was a formidable enemy for ROW. They would feel his anger now.

He turned to see Yaro enter the hangar, and he knew this was part of the plan. Soon after his unit launched the Dreamer would be the next player on the battle. Yaro seemed cocky now and Kira hoped that would not get in the way of anything they needed to accomplish.

* * *

"Load missile tubes," Lacus yelled, "Aim main guns down the center of the battlefield and alert our troops of our firing range!" Leyas relayed the message obediently as she heard a voice on the screen before her and saw Trey.

"I need Kiran," Trey said desperately to Leyas and Leyas turned to Kiran, "my machine runs better with two people and I know your parents don't want you to fight, but Kiran has more experience make the request please Leyas!" He knew she would want to go herself but he had to make her understand that the battle was important now and her parents had made it clear that she was to fight on the bridge. Kiran had also heard every word.

"Trey is requesting Kiran to come help him with his unit," Leyas quickly asked her mother, "the machine works better with two pilots, you have to let him go." Lacus had not thought of that. She knew Kiran was dreading not getting mobile suit time, and she knew that she was worried about Trey fighting in a two person machine alone. She quickly gave the order and Kiran grinned ear to ear as he left the bridge to get the the hanger. Trey was going to launch with Yaro's unit and he would not have much time to get there. He had to hurry.

"All machines out of range," Leyas said to Lacus.

"Then fire!" she yelled. The Eternal let out a strong blast right into the center of the battlefield, destroying a large number of robotics and hitting the ROW base right in one of it's main cannons. Lacus smiled as she gave her next order, "Order Kira and his unit to launch now!"

* * *

Shinn and Luna smiled as the Eternal blast broke the main line.

"We're ging in tight," Shinn informed his unit, "don't break formation." The next stage, they were going down the opening to the ROW base and cutting off the forces ROW had released already. He saw the Eternal's main unit launching with the Justice leading the field. Kira was here now.

* * *

"Turn on main shields," Kira ordered, "keep your weapons ready at all times and stay close. We're going in quickly, we are going to cut them off. Whatever you do hold together, we move as a unit."

* * *

"Now!" Shinn yelled as his unit joined with Kira's and the fresh redemption forces led by Yzak. The three units shot through the opening made by the Eternal and toward the ROW base at such a high speed. The Redemption and Clyne faction ships covered them as they moved with such incredible speed.

* * *

"NOW YARO!" he heard Leyas's voice, informing him that the forces had reached the halfway point. It was his turn. He smiled as he launched with another large unit of Clyne faction mobile suits.

* * *

"Sir we have a large force cutting off our troops," someone said to Liene, "and the Dreamer has made an appearance."

"Still no Phoenix," Liene said with a sigh, "where are you Meiko? What game are you playing?" This made him angry to see. Maybe she had cowered out of this battlefield. Where was she?

* * *

Yaro moved the Dreamer into position as the main forces that had moved in to the middle split into the the sides out of Yaro's rage. His machine moved into cannon mode and he fired a large blast toward the ROW base breaking open one of the main hangars and destroying many backup units. He smiled as it hit perfectly. His mobile suit transformed as his forces protect the main ships. He had waited for this moment. He saw Trey and Kiran's unit pull alongside him as the two units joined forces destroying robotics headed toward the Eternal.

"When's Meiko going to show?" Kiran asked him. Trey also appeared on the screen and nodded to Yaro in assurance.

"When she's ready," Yaro said with a grin destroying another robotic unit.

* * *

"Hard to port, load all main guns! Pick off those robotics!" Milady Redemption gave her orders with assurance, not from the bridge but from the hangar. She had left another officer in charge of the bridge but she was still giving main orders, for now. She smiled as the ship did as instructed and she turned to her main technician. "So she's launched?"

"Yes," he responded, "The Phoenix launched about five minutes ago, but she was using her mirage colloid. Who know's what she is planning.

"I think I do," Milady said turning away from him and looking out into space wondering how things would play out. So far the Clyne faction had done as promised and had broken through the main lines, cutting off the chances of escape for those robotics. Yaro had made it to the battlefield with his impressive weapons and had fired his large cannon into the main hangar, It was a part of the plan that made sense to no one else but she knew that Meiko would need that opening. She knew what was about to take place better than anyone else.

Meiko would bring Liene into custody, or kill him trying. Either way ROW's days as their enemy were at an end. And a swift end it would have to be. For if given too much of an opportunity to speak, Liene would take it. But in this Milady smiled, for she would make sure everything went right. Soon it would be her turn as well.

* * *

Liene watched the battlefield intently as the Clyne faction forces and Redemption forces fought solidly. They were formidable opponents and they were taking on his limited forces with speed and accuracy as he expected. The tactics of Redemption were clearly shown as the moves that were made played out. But he still watched and waited. He knew that Meiko was near, he could feel her presence out there. It was then that something strange happened. He had ordered the launch of another wave of robotics but the machines were destroyed as they entered the battlefield with such blinding speed, though there was nothing to suggest that there was anyone out there fighting them.

"The Phoenix must be able to fight even while invisible!" Liene yelled! "Order all machines to focus on her and find her!" He knew it was to no avail. He didn't have enough forces to win here, his only confidence was upon his plan, and Meiko would have to fall right into line with it in order for everything to work the way he wanted it to. Soon, very soon.

* * *

Meiko opened her eyes in anger as she destroyed another robotic. No more sense in hiding. She knew what she had to do as she finally revealed herself. In the middle of the battlefield.

"This is the day you ROW will end," she said broadcasting a message to ROW, hiding her face from them. "For the corruption and evil you have spread, I sentence you to death! I Meiko Virea who know more than anyone about your evil will destroy you!" She announced her name as she lifted her eyes and the people of ROW saw her face. In this moment fear filled their hearts, for they had through her dead and she had survived the odds. She would be their greatest enemy, once their greatest ally. They knew her strength and their hearts were close to failing them for now just from her words they felt as thought their time was up.

She smiled as she knew exactly what her words had done. She turned her machine as it seemed the enter battlefield was focused on her now, the way she had wanted it to be. Yaro and Kira pulled alongside her, the three would be formidable together as the all moved into the battlefield at full force.

* * *

Yaro joined alongside Meiko in the battle as he noticed the battlefield's attention turn to her, something of a protectiveness filled him for her as his seed exploded in the back of his mind, as it had in the past but this time it had the glow that marked it as the super seed. He knew that this meant he was stronger than before. He was the first one to have it, fully evolved.

He destroyed robotic after robotic and disarmed any manned units he had contact with. Kira noticed that his movements seemed to trail the aqua blue glow that matched his eyes.

* * *

"She makes a dramatic entrance," Yzak said to Milady, "no doubt she takes after you in that!"

"Just be ready Yzak, I will need your help in everything I plan to do." Milady smiled in sadness. They were fighting ROW back now, for all the pain that had come about in it's existence. For ROW had never done anything, from it's founding it had caused division in the world and in the lives of the people that had served it. No longer, for now finally they were fighting back!

* * *

"The troops are unnerved sir," someone told Liene, "they are scared at the sight of Meiko." Anger filled him at her insolence. She had the nerve to waltz in here and declare that ROW would die? He grinned for she had no idea what was about to happen and what was coming. For once again it was going to be the actions of Milady and Meiko that would bring on the next stage. This battle was lost by both sides before it began, but it was his actions that would be the turning point and Liene knew he would win the war.

* * *

Meiko knew that she didn't have much time for this as Kira and Yaro seemed to handle their units well, she smiled and let a large blast out of her mobile suit, clearing her path. With her thrusters at full range she shot across the battlefield at a blinding speed and into the hangar of the ROW base. She landed her machine in the broken down hangar locking it sealing it as she left it with two guns and fired at the ROW guards in the hangar, killing each of them with perfect accuracy. She then took off into the base. For this would end today.

* * *

Lacus watched in shock as Meiko entered the base and left Kira and Yaro to handle the units, but her mission had been accomplished. the Robotics were focused on her and now blasting shots toward the ROW base as that was where her unit had gone.

"That girl," Waltfeld shook his head, "she just has to keep with these reckless strategies. Who would have known?"

"Keep alert," Lacus responded, "take down as many units as you can while their focus is elsewhere! ROW will soon realize what is happening and reverse it!"

* * *

Shinn smiled as the Robotic units attention turned back to the Clyne faction and Redemption. ROW should have seen that one coming in his mind. He took down some robotics that dared to challenge him.

* * *

"NO!" Yaro yelled as he realized that Meiko was now inside the Redemption base alone. She had made him promise not to do anything reckless out here but she had once again not been able to equal her own request. Anger filled him at the idea of her in there all alone, if anything happened to her he would never be able to forgive himself. His super seed ignited with a fire as he realized that he was powerful enough to protect her now the way she had protect him.

He quickly destroyed the units he was fighting and moved his mobile suit higher and higher into the sky. The robotic units that followed him he turned on unleashing a blast like the one he had used in ORB. The machines lost power and crashed to the ground of Mars as his blast continued hitting many ROW units, and mistakenly a few allied units that were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He moved his machine with the blast until it hit the main base draining it of power on the right side. He smiled as he knew now, the cameras there were out. Finding Meiko would be a problem and she would be able to move stealthily.

"Yaro!" he heard his father's voice, "that was out of line! You hit your own units…" Yaro could tell his father wanted to continue but he had shut off his radio. He had no time to listen to this. He moved his mobile suit now in a swift trajectory landing inside the ROW base along side the Phoenix. He exited the cockpit into the darkness of this side of the base and smiled. He had bought Meiko time and now he would have to find her. He pulled his gun out and turned down the hall.

* * *

"Kira!" Lacus spoked to him in fear, "Yaro!" Kira had seen it and he heard his wifes expression of fear. Yaro had used his power recklessly and followed after Meiko in a delicate situation. What action could he take now? The battlefield needed him but his son needed him as well.

"I saw it," Kira said, "Yaro took out enough forces that he's done his job. What do you want me to do Lacus?" He pleaded to her. He wanted her to make this decision for him, to tell him what he needed to do in this situation.

"I don't know," she responded.

* * *

Another few blasts rocked the base as Meiko watched the lights go out, she knew who it was that had done this. She smiled, it was perfect, the cover of darkness. She moved quickly and stealthily through the base. She needed to know what powers they were holding back and she needed to capture Liene. Now was the time to move quickly, for time was of the essence. Many lives were in the balance here and she knew it was a risk when she had decided to come now it was a risk she just had to take.

She heard footsteps and quickly hoisted herself into the bars above the hallway and up into the rafters. She was well hidden by the darkness.

"Liene's ordered us to prepare for immediate evacuation," it was Glligan Manchester below with eight guards. She felt hatred boil in her blood, and she knew that in this moment she could kill all of them without much more than a thought of it. She lowered herself a little and looked into the faces of the guards. She saw one of them looked very young indeed and the others had eyes that were hardened by the darkness of the lives they had endured. For she realized a long tim ago that the people who choose ROW were the ones who were so hardened by sadness and hatred. It was something that she had tried to tell herself. Here now she didn't have to kill these men, but doing so would leave her with less to deal with.

It was a dilemma, for was it really their fault that they had been brought to this place and this moment. She wondered in this moment if ROW ended and peace returned would people still exist like this? Would people still be haunted by their anger till they boiled over into the kind of person Liene was. If this was the truth, was there a way to achieve perfect peace? For hatred would always exist among some. Some people would lash out against others and this cycle was so complicated in the lives of so many, was it even possible to end this. If she ended these lives, and many others in ROW and then captured Liene, would that be the end of everything? Or would then hatred of another man or another woman rise out of a life of suffering and once again repeat the cycle? Was there any hope for mankind?

She lowered her guns and looked within herself as the men passed, a missed opportunity to kill but it wasn't one she wanted. There was so much more in the world than good and evil, there was a process that led people to evil and if evil was to be eradicated that process would have to end. She turned back toward the hall and lowered herself down and the ran. This fight was one she had to continue with, for even if it didn't change everything, it would change enough.

* * *

"The base defenses are weakening," Andrew Waltfeld informed, "I seems the tide is turning, but we're not out the woods yet, stay vigilant!" Lacus nodded turning toward space. Meiko's plan all along must have been this, in that case they would all have to trust her again. Lacus sighed, why was it this girl always kept her plans from people; it was always difficult to predict what she was going to do and now Yaro was in there.

"I'm going in!" Kira declared on screen, "I'll beat as many units as I can out here but if they don't come out soon I'm going in!"

"Right," Lacus responded standing, "we must stay strong now! Launch the final wave of troops! Overwhelm their forces!"

* * *

"The Clyne faction is launching another wave!" Yazk alerted Milady.

"Hold back on ours!" Milady responded, "We want some backup in case things turn against us!" Lacus was a fool unleashing her final troops now, the battle wasn't won yet; Liene was playing a game with the and now it was up to Redemption to play along.

* * *

Yaro Yamato wandered around the halls swiftly as he searched for Meiko. The lack of nuclear energy to power this side of the base made it very cold. It was barely holding on to it's oxygen supply through the emergency seals that protected it from the dangers of the atmosphere outside. It was a complex structure, and gravity was included when there was power but the fail Yaro had caused had set it on emergency mode and he knew a majority of the guards were now stationed on the side with power. Meiko was searching for Liene and perhaps he would have moved already to the power side. Yaro gathering his wits quickly started in that direction.

He thought about the path that had brought him here. A year before he would have laughed at the idea of an organization that was destroying nations from the inside. He would have never thought that he would be fighting in a mobile suit and he would have never predicted he would be here now. The things that had happened were too harsh when he thought of them. The road that led him to this place and this time, he knew that there was a turning point coming and it was coming fast. He wasn't proud of many of the things that he had done but he knew that they were what he deemed necessary at the time. This road that he had started on wasn't one he would turn back on for now he had great power with his super seed and he was advancing more and more everyday. He would fight this battle in his own way.

He turned around as he realized he wasn't going in the right direction. His intuition told him he was closer to the part that was still functional but he wasn't completely sure which way to turn and there were a lot of halls in this place. Another problem would be finding his way out if he didn't find Meiko. Then the through occurred to him, Meiko must know this base like the back of her hand. She grew up in ROW and it was plausible she had been here many times before, there was a confidence in that. He realized now that rushing in here may have been an altogether too rash decision for him to make at the time.

It was then that he turned the corner to see a ROW officer on a functional computer terminal. Yaro concluded he had found his way to the functional side of the base. The man seemed to be working on something fast, sending information to someone. Yaro reached for his gun as the man suddenly jumped up to face him with his gun drawn. The man looked into Yaro's eyes and Yaro looked into his, both stunned in silence as they pointed their guns at each other, daring the other to shoot first. Yaro glanced at the computer screen as he realized that a broadcast had just been sent to the PLANTs, confirming something he already knew; Jayley was connected to ROW.

"I don't want to hurt you boy," the man said in a kind voice Yaro had not expected, "leave now and I won't hurt you, I promise."

"What good are your promises when you are with ROW," Yaro spat an the man flinched at these words. For he was Mike Shustre and he felt in his heart that this had been growing for so long; he was never really a part of ROW and he was ashamed of how he lost himself to keep that front.

"I know what it looks like boy but you have to believe me when I say I don't want to hurt you," Mike responded lowering his gun, "and you are Yaro Yamato, you can't want to hurt me." Anger was stirred in Yaro at these words, just becase of his family name people had assumptions about what he wanted. They had no idea what it was he wanted, he wanted to be normal. He wanted his life to go back to that life of peace that had once been his. He wanted ROW to end and all those that still serve it to be destroyed.

"You know nothing about what I want!" Yaro yelled now, "You're an agent of ROW and an enemy of peace! It is ROW who destroyed the world and it is I who fight for the memories of everything we had in this world! Who do you think you are to say you know what I want!" Yaro stepped forward cocking his gun.

Mike took a deep breath closing his eyes briefly, he never thought it would end like this. Yaro fired the shot and Mike felt the pain tear through his body, the shot was followed by another and another pain as tears streamed from Yaro's eyes. He hated ROW more than anything, for what they did in killing Uzumi, for how they destroyed the world he held dear and to how they destroyed Meiko's life in so many ways. To him this man was nothing but another tool ROW was using to continue their waves of corruption, he was an obstacle in the battle for peace. He would have to die, in Yaro's mind there was no other way to stop ROW but to kill them all.

But in that moment another factor entered as Yaro turned his head to see Meiko rush into the doorway of the room and to see a look he had never seen before on her face, a terrified shock at the sight she was witnessing. Yaro Yamato had shot Mike, the man who had rescued her in so many ways, the person she owed her light to. The boy she had grown to love had killed Mike. Horror filled her at this as something inside her broke her and tears streamed from her eyes. Yaro hated the look he saw now and a silent dread filed him.

"MIKE!" He heard his name from a voice screaming out, a voice he never thought he'd hear again as he turned his head. He was falling back but he was still able to turn and see the figure of a girl running toward him, the girl was the same. Her red hair and strength radiating from her, she was Meiko. He could scarcely believe anything he was seeing and in that moment he believed he must be dying. Meiko Virea died, she gave her life and with her death he had lost his purpose. She couldn't be alive! It was a true miracle and he had never been there to see it. In this moment as blood poured from his wounds, it was only regret that filled him for the darkness he had submitted to and the hopelessness he had believed. For all along a miracle that was her existence in the world was before him and he had never had the strength to really believe it. He had failed to protect her but he had never needed to her. She was protected by the greatness she was destined for just as he was now abandoned by the darkness he had fallen into.

She couldn't fathom it, she couldn't see it, couldn't take it. Something so wrong, it shouldn't be happening, it couldn't be happening. Mike was falling as if he was moving in slow motion; there were two shots and he was unarmed. He had never wanted to hurt anyone, he had only ever fought to save her and to protect her. This was an injustice, he didn't deserve this. He heart skipped multiple beats as the man who had been as a father to her hit the floor. She fell beside him on her knees lifting his frail form from the floor as he looked up at her with sorrow clear on his face and a simple apology in his eyes.

"You're alive," the words escaped him as tears spilled from her eyes. He lifted a hand to her face, he had raise her and in a way she was his daughter. She took his hand and shook her head yes.

"Yes, I couldn't die," she said, "you told me the world was mine, I had to fight to protect it." Mike's breaths were coming slower now as Meiko's tears increased.

"You're so strong," Mike was trying to get his words out, "I never got the chance to really say goodbye when I thought you were gone, I never got the chance to tell you… to tell you how much you changed my life." She shook her head at him as more tears came, she could have done nothing to change his life when he was the one who had really saved her from becoming what ROW had wanted her to be all along.

"No, Mike you saved me," she protested but he continued.

"No Meiko you have to listen to me," he said when a pained voice, "it's not what you think, Liene is devious, I don't even know that he is here! Listen to me Meiko, I'm proud of you… I'm so proud of what you have become, you can't loose that ever…" More tears came from here eyes.

"Just hold on Mike," she said trying to think of some way to get him back to the Eternal, to save him! She even tried to call her super seed in desperation, but in the one time she wanted it, it remained completely silent.

"It's too late for me Meiko!" he cried desperately trying to get her to focus now on what he was saying, "You are everything I ever hoped you would become… But Liene, he's going to kill you… Please Meiko you have to get out of here… Don't listen to anything he says, Meiko don't listen to him… He knows some truths, he knows who your father is but he want's to twist it against you Meiko…" She shook her head at his words, what was he trying to tell her now? "Meiko you were always like a daughter to me… I'm so proud of you, I'm prou…" He never finished his last syllable as breath left his being and she felt his body stiffen. She cried his name now screaming out in anger and pain. In her anger she turned upward toward Yaro who stood there shocked before her at what he had just seen. His actions had caused this, the pain that he had just witnessed.

"You killed him!" Meiko yelled to him, "Yaro how could you?"

"I didn't know Meiko," Yaro responded, "I thought he was just another ROW solider, I didn't know! You have to believe me!" What he saw in her eyes was a doubt and a her eyes cut through his heart. She seemed as thought she was about to speak when a voice interrupted them.

"How perfectly touching," John Liene said as they saw him enter from the other side of the large room accompanied by a few guards, "I couldn't have predicted anything more perfectly. Mike Shustre was getting on my nerves boy, thank you for getting rid of him for me, but I do believe that is exactly as I hoped that it would go." Yaro glanced to Meiko who was standing up now with her guns drawn.

"Spare me the words Liene," Meiko spat at him, "I'm here on behalf of the world to take you back to the Reversal or to kill you trying. surrender or die."

* * *

**Shorter than I expected it to be but I was working hard. So sorry I keep going MIA and completely ignoring everything because of school, i've just been so swamped lately and I took the worst class load ever this semester.**

**So right now I am at an interesting part of the story, so tell me what you think is going to happen next. I'm sure that some things will come up that none of you will have ever predicted or expected before, secrets that I alluded to a long time ago in the story that I kinda dropped for awhile. I don't want to spoil anything else but be prepared for something huge in Phase 42: Hatred. **

**So this chapter was focused on the battle, we get to see some more tactics, I focused less on the movement of the battlefield near the end because the most important part of this chapter was getting Meiko and Yaro into the ROW base and leading up to this confrontation with Liene that will be more prominent next chapter, it's the main focal point of the next chapter was well as the next stage of the battle. I hope everything wasn't too breezy for you, I kinda wrote it fast wanting to give you something sooner than I would have if i had spent more time on it and that may have been a bad thing and now this is a really bad run on sentance, I tend to use a lot of those! LOL!**

**Thanks to all of you who have been reviewing, your reviews mean so much to me, you have no idea how excited they make me, sometimes they are all I need to get me over the edge of laziness so that I can start writing. So thank you so much, you all are my inspiration to continue this journey.  
**

**Well now I want you to leave me nice juicy reviews, tell me what you think is going to happen, tell me what you liked in this chapter and tell me what you are looking forward to. There is much more coming so please REVIEW so that I will have inspiration to get it to you sooner!  
**

**-Winterchill  
**


	44. Hatred

**I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this phase, it was one of the original scenes I planned, this confrontation. Be prepared for this, it's going to change everything. I think there is one twist that will shock you all.**

**Phase 42: Hatred**

* * *

_"What is your child's name?" Mike Shustre stood facing the girl whom John had taken in a few months before. He had only seen her from a distance before but he thought her very beautiful. Something about her was different and broken, as though she felt the weight of something that she had done; a scar that was unhealed and unforgiven. He was speaking to her now, when she came in she was pregnant and half alive, but Liene had been able to save her and her child._

_"Her name is Meiko," the girl responded holding her close, she's very much like her father. She looked sad saying those words, but not in the way that someone would look missing someone they were in love with; she looked as thought she missed something more._

_"Who was her father?" Mike asked. He wanted to know more about this strange girl. She was so young and yet she had a child, and she had been out on the battlefield when they found her. The battle that had just ended the Valentine war. Something about her was so different than anyone he had ever met before. She had a resilience and a strength even though she was only a natural. He was also told she was barely sixteen years old and had been with the earth forces. Liene had been caring for her and she had apparently opened up to him about her past, he did have a very kind and trusting disposition and was able to charm most anyone._

_"He was," she stopped for a second looking down, "a good man, a better man than most. Well I guess he's not even a man, more like a boy whom carried so much weight on his shoulders and who fought so hard. I thought that all I wanted was revenge on him for what he didn't do, and I was so wrong. He was so much better than I, in so many ways. I was wrong." She said no more on the subject turning away; her daughter in her arms, the last piece of her old life and her mistakes._

* * *

"Firing everything now!" Milady shouted as the blast tore from the Reversal into the second main hangar of the ROW base and Milady prepared for what was ahead. For this day she realized now everything would change and everyone would know the truth that she had run away from so long. She always knew the past would come back again to haunt her, she just never wanted it to be true. She never wanted it to be real.

"I'll give the orders Milady, don't worry about a thing," Yzak said as she held onto her controls, "our main unit will cover your entrance, you'll get there in one piece, we promise." He knew how much this meant to her more than anyone. Her little girl was her sole purpose in fighting the way she did and without Meiko that purpose would be gone and the world would no longer be the place it was supposed to be. She had to make sure everything went about according to plan. She knew that Kira would act soon and she would have to beat him to it, she had to remember what it was like inside that base even thought it had been so long since she had last been there. This was the place where Meiko and Yaro were born, the place where so much suffering was caused.

"Launch!" Milady yelled as her pilot launched the pod with her, they were going into that ROW base. For the sake of the world they had to make it in there. She already felt that something was wrong, something was off and she would have to stop this madness before it continued any longer.

* * *

Shinn fired shots as it seemed more fresh robotics were streaming from the base, it was half crippled but trying to recover from Yaro's sudden move. The fight was still raging and it seemed that the Clyne faction had won a moment ago yet they were loosing ground again. He turned his head to see the Justice speeding toward the base and he was shocked to see it enter the same hangar Meiko and Yaro had gone into. So now Kira was taking matters into his own hands.

"What's he doing!" Lunamaria declared, "We need to finish the fight out here!"

"Don't mind him," Shinn responded with a laugh, "if anyone knows what he's doing it's Yamato, besides we can handle ourselves out here! Take up arms Luna, we've got to run these guys to the ground!"

* * *

"YARO!" Meiko yelled as she realized what this was, an ambush! She jumped with swift speed as a bullet glazed over her arm and she slammed back behind cover taking Yaro down with her. There were guards on the balconies across from them, in the darkness; she hadn't noticed them. She cursed herself for being so foolish as Liene laughed at her incompetence.

"Really Meiko," Liene mocked her, "I would have thought that your actions would be better served fighting out there in your mobile suit where you are protected by armor, here you are vulnerable and weak. There is no way you can fight the way you used to in this way." Meiko looked down, her arm has been barely missed, there was a small burn from the fast passing on the bullet and there were many more fired as Liene made his idiotic speech. Yaro and spring up from the ground with her and both were crouching silent with their guns trying to asses the situation. She could not tell how many there were but she knew it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed if she didn't take some sort of action.

"Watch out!" Yaro shouted as he noticed a guard coming around on the far side of the room. Yaro fired a shot hitting the guard perfectly, instantly killing him. Meiko saw a flash of light as he did, it faded quickly but it was evident that Yaro was using his super seed with more assurance than ever before, that was an advantage.

* * *

"Kira take this map, I compiled it from memory last night," he relieved a transmission from Trey as he entered the hangar, "it highlights where Liene would be. I think Liene was waiting for this to happen, for Meiko to enter! Kira you have to hurry, they'll be strongly outnumbered.

"Thanks Trey," Kira responded to the boy with a nod opening the files and looking to where he would search, there were also a couple other areas highlighted by where else Liene might lead them to. He hoped that Trey was not right in what he said but he knew that the boy understood ROW so much better than everyone else on the ship; he knew how Liene would react to this battle. It seemed that it was all a setup to lure Meiko in and she had played along, even though she probably knew what she was getting herself into. She had been reckless because her inability to tell everyone her plans now placed Yaro in danger as well. Though Kira was sure that they could hold on for a little while, he had no way of knowing how long they would last.

* * *

"So you survived such a close scrape with death last time Meiko," Liene yelled, "you should have died then!" The gunfire kept increasing as Meiko felt pinned down behind the barrier. She noticed Yaro firing when he could but she herself was doing nothing, stunned by the situation. She had to fight anger boiled in her blood as a small explosion occurred in the back of her mind, her regular seed was enough now. She lept across the opening with assured swiftness firing three accurate shots as three men fell from the balconies, but once again her landing was off as she lifted her right arm and a bullet bounced off the metal she felt one actually hit her left leg as a numbness filled it and she crashed to the ground behind another barrier.

She dumped the empty cartage out of her gun and reloaded it. She had to protect herself and Yaro. His eyes glowed again as he let out a yell firing three shots out there. She knew they didn't have unlimited ammo, and she had no way of knowing how long they could hold out at this point.

"You're wrong about everything Liene!" Meiko yelled hoping that her words would be felt by the ROW soldiers, "your twisted lies have created more pain in this world than they have mended. You never once told me the truth about anything! You always lied to me! Now you can't even speak to me without an armed guard firing at me! If I surrendered you wouldn't even give me the chance to stand! There is no honor in you, nothing but hatred!" Yaro then froze trying to lift his gun in time as he saw another solider coming up toward Meiko, he would hit her perfectly if Yaro didn't stop him! Meiko tried to move to shoot the man but he was about to fire when a shot rang through the room and the man fell.

More shots were fired as Kira Yamato ducked behind the same barrier as Meiko with his gun and a bag full of ammo.

"You're alright," Kira said tossing some ammo over to where Yaro was and reassuring Meiko. She smiled gratefully at him, he had come at the right time, she was almost out and in that case she would have been completely defenseless.

"Why did you come?" Meiko asked him, "We're in so much more danger here, you're placing yourself at risk!" He smiled at this, he was the ultimate coordinator, there was no risk he wouldn't take to protect the people he loved; Yaro was his son and Meiko had become like family to him. She had done so much for them, she deserved their support and help in everything that she set out to do. He turned back to the task at hand. Liene was here and Liene's end was at hand.

"Kira Yamato!" Liene said his name with a laugh, "it's almost too perfect, are Lacus and the kids here as well? Don't you want to have a family reunion or have you already had one?" Kira had no idea what he was talking about, he would never bring his children into a situation like this. Seeing Yaro and Meiko here he just wanted his son out of there.

"Don't listen to a word he says!" an exclamation as two people ran in and a machine gun fired into the balconies and rafters. Milady Redemption and her two guards had arrived.

"What are you bringing in the rest of the battlefield?" Liene said with a laugh, "this is ridiculous!" It was everything he had predicted, they were all there as he had been assured they would be. Now the base was safe from both forces for there were leaders within the base now, and that meant that a swift capture of these leaders and Liene will have won this battle. Now to play games with their minds, this was the part he did best.

* * *

Athrun Zala looked toward where he knew Mars was and he wondered what exactly was taking place up there now. Cagalli and Jeffery sat in the room with him, they were all waiting for news but so far there was nothing. No transmissions had been sent in the few days since the departure of their allies. Of course the media had no news. The existence of a military base on Mars was not known to very many people and it seemed that the world had quieted down since Meiko's antics and the ceasefire between the PLANTS and ORB.

Everything was very uneasy now almost as though everyone on earth were holding their breaths and waiting for a miracle. Something was happening up there now and no one on earth or in the PLANTs knew much about it and very few people even knew anything was taking place. But somehow though the world knew nothing there was something felt in the hearts of each and every person that was around now. There was an urgency in mankind to look up toward the sky and brace themselves for everything was going to be different no matter what the outcome of the battle above. Either the cycle of hatred would continue in a greater way than every in the history of man or by the grace of the forces that were sent there would be a chance for the world to be redeemed. Athrun and Cagalli wanted that redemption for all. They wanted freedom and peace though it seemed like a fools dream, it was a dream that they had dreamed for a long time.

"We have to wait and hold on," Athrun said shaking his head, "We're so close to the end of it all, I can feel it. It this battle is the last it will be better but I have a feeling that it won't be the last."

"What makes you think it won't be the last?" Cagalli asked Athrun, "we're so close." He looked at her wanting to believe the way she did but the odds were interesting and he wondered if ROW was really centered at that base. If there was a chance that ROW had other forces this wasn't over, Liene or not the other men in that organization were filled with such hatred that they wold carry out whatever plans Liene had left behind and he hoped beyond hope that would happen.

Apparently the NEA and the PLANTs were in peace talks. It could be that the world was uniting against what might be coming or it could be that ROW was twisting the knife it had plunged into the world the day it was founded. Whatever it was the winds of the earth were shifting and life was changing. Everything was changing because of the hatred of the people, that damned cycle of hatred.

* * *

"Follow me in!" Yazk yelled as he approached a Gundam he knew was strong enough to help him. Trey and Kiran fought together in the main lines and Yzak had just noticed the situation getting sour.

"What?" Trey appeared on the screen but he could see Kiran as well in the background.

"I'm going in for a close approach, we have to stop them from launching anymore units!" Yzak exclaimed, "If we get close enough we can fight, and Kiran can hack the mainframe and cause a disturbance in their control over the robotic units! Everything is a program and if you destroy that program we've won!" Trey understood now, everything hinged on them winning the battle out here, for if they did then they could get into the base and save those who were now trapped inside. This was important.

"We've got it," Trey responded. He then turned his transmissions to the Clyne faction ships, "We're going in, send a unit to back us up, we have to end this soon!"

"Request acknowledged," Leyas responded, "We'll do what we can! Be careful out there you two!"

"We will," Kiran replied with a smile, "Lets take them down!"

* * *

"Meiko," Milady was next to her daughter upon entering and Milady quickly pulled out a bandage from a bag she had with her. She had predicted this situation. Meiko didn't protest as Milady wrapped the bandage around Meiko's leg tightly to stop the bleeding. She gasped briefly at the pain.

"Mother you should have stayed away," she finally said. Milady's two guards were firing shots at Liene's guards trying to take them out. Yaro was still fighting, and Kira as well. Meiko in this moment watched the scene unfolding, it was a hard situation for them all to be in. One false move could end it for any of them, and this wasn't something she wanted to drag anyone into but herself. She knew she could continue fighting even with the gunshot wound and she was concerned about everyone else more than herself. She shouldn't have jumped from cover when she did, she was just desperate to fight back.

"I would never stay away when I knew you needed me," Milady said.

Liene was happy with the turn of events, Milady Redemption had arrived as predicted and it seemed everything was going smoothly.

"Why don't you remove your mask Milady and let the world see your face," he yelled preparing himself. Kira turned to her as he couldn't see what her expression was right now, "Kira that's right, you've always wondered what she had to hide; how was it that this person who was on your side could have fear of showing you her face? What was it about her that caused her to be so wary?" Meiko glanced around desperately they had to shut him up, his words were to divide.

"Liene!" Meiko called out his name, "leave them be! It's me you want!" She moved slowly drawing both her guns as Milady looked at her with worry but she was sure.

"But this isn't just about you Meiko, sorry to say this but the world isn't all about you," Liene said with a twisted laugh, "no there is so much more that this is about. Kira Yamato, the unsung hero!" Yaro felt his anger rising, he knew he would have to keep himself in check, this was a desperate situation.

"No this has nothing to do with them!" Meiko cried out now once again more assured as she fired shots from the barrier scoping as best she could, she saw now where Liene was, just hiding behind his guards perimeter, too well protected for her to get to without putting herself in real danger. This danger was something she would have to face, she had to do this. She had to stop him.

"But it has everything to do with them!" Liene yelled now as he fired his own shots not caring that he was hitting nothing.

"Liene!" Milady yelled jumping from cover to get to where Yaro was but a stray bullet, or perhaps a well place one had a different plan. The bullet did not hit her skin but she felt a sharp pain as it burned past her breaking the hold that was on her mask and it fell to the floor. She turned her head toward Yaro and then back to Kira and Meiko, completely shocked by what had just happened. The expression on Kira's face was one that no one could really describe as memories flashed through his mind and the seed broke in the back of his mind. For before him, the girl had to be a ghost. Milady Redemption all along.

"It has everything to do with them Meiko because they created you!" Meiko's eyes filled with tears as she tried to figure out what was happening to her, why the hair on her skin stood up at his words and why everything around her seemed to stop at once, "because Milady Redemption is not Rayla Frost, she is not Mariah Virea; those names were disguises for her past; something so awful she didn't want anyone to know. For her real name is Flay Allster, the girl who did everything she could to kill Kira; like a black widow. What she didn't expect was that from the union with him she would get a child with more power than anyone ever existing before. You Meiko are her child and Kira is your father." Kira was shocked at the revelation and Meiko looked up at him as tears filled her eyes. This was not the time or the place to hear this. It was designed to destroy them.

"Of course she couldn't tell you the truth, because everything she is; she's a liar!" Liene continued, "because of all the things she did. She was ROW"s minx. For so long she touted on that she just wanted to redeem herself but she became one of us; a killer. And in the midst of everything she gave up her own daughter to be an experiment; a child solider on our regime. She'll try to say we stole you from her, but the truth is she gave you up!" Meiko shook her head and felt anger in her blood as it boiled over and her head began shaking.

"Meiko!" Yaro yelled her name as he realized what was going on. It was stronger than ever before as an explosion rang through her mind crashing through her being, no pain this time; somehow she overcame it as a violet light filled the area before her and her anger boiled over. She let out a scream of agony as she jumped up with all her strength leaping over the barrier to another one that would protect her. No bullet hit her as she killed four guards while in midair. Kira and Yaro watched in shock as she moved swiftly killing as many as she could fighting back as hard as she could. The fury Liene's words had unleashed. But how long could she hold out? Another gunshot hit her side and she fell to the ground behind a barrier as the super seed faded and she felt consciousness leaving her from the power of the seed. But still somehow she held on fighting through the pain and rising again to fire back at the guards that she was able to hit. She killed a few more but she knew it wold be evident to them that she was more vulnerable now.

Flay sat there in shock of everything, it was too much to handle for her at this moment. She knew it wasn't the right time to break but Liene had crossed a line she had not predicted. He knew more about her past and the awful things that she had done that he could have used against her, but no he had to reach in the past she didn't want to remember; the days when the death of her own father had driven her to a madness that had led her to toy with the mind of one of the kindest people in the world. This was the one thing she had never wanted to face. The darkness that could break her.

"Meiko!" Yaro yelled her name again and she glanced back at him for a second, she was safe back there for now but he had to get to her. He glanced around and saw his opening so he turned to Kira hoping that he would understand; they had to be strong despite the revelations. He was her father after all.

* * *

"Stay focused!" Trey yelled to Kiran as they both maneuvered their controls fighting off the machines that were attacking them. The Clyne faction units were backing them up as they fought their way to get closer and closer to the bases main controls.

"We'll cover you!" Dearka appeared on the screen before them, "just get close enough to hack their system, force them to send manned units!" They knew the advantage of this would be that the actual manned units would tire. These robotics could keep going and going without needing to pull back for a rest and it this battle continued on for too long the Clyne faction and Redemption units would actually start to get weary.

"We've got this!" Yzak responded, "go!"

"Got it!" Trey responded maneuvering the machine closer and closer as their enemies became preoccupied with the two veterans. Trey drove on closer and closer as Kiran used the weapons systems to destroy many towers.

"Now Kiran!" Trey yelled switching the controls to give him control of the weapons and the machine. Kiran's fingers instantly started moving on the keyboard before him ashe worked through complex algorithms at blinding speed. His seed exploded in the back of his mine as he focused in working through the firewalls. Trey had no idea what he was doing but he trusted the boys skills as he used the weapons to defend the mobile suit as best he could. Dearka and Yzak also flew around them taking shots to their own sheilds and destroying any enemy that dared to come near.

* * *

"Order all missiles to launch toward the ships leading the attack, the base is not our priority now!" Lacus ordered as all ships started to focus on the ROW ships that had launched from the base, "we need to take down the lead ships and to destroy their fleet. Cut off their escape!" She was frankly surprised that there were so few ships. Liene had to be building up power somehow. It made her wonder how much more bases ROW had and how much of a fleet he held back from this battle. They were using many resource defeating something that wasn't even ROW's best.

* * *

"Shinn!" Luna yelled as they fought on through what seemed like the never ending swarm. They knew it would have to end soon with Kiran working hard to disarm the robotics, all that would be left were the manned units.

"Stay with me Luna!" Shinn proclaimed, "we're not going down today!"

* * *

"Kira now!" Yaro yelled and the two moved together over the barriers firing their own shots and working their way toward Meiko. Kira felt a bullet sink into his arm and watched in shock as Yaro dogged every bullet with the light of his super seed guiding him. He made it to Meiko but Kira got stuck behind another barrier firing at the guards, it seemed like there were unlimited amounts of them still out there. Yaro quickly reloaded his gun and fired over the barrier ducking just in time to watch a bullet fly past him.

"I'm here Meiko," Yaro said putting an hand on her shoulder as he tore out another set of ammo, "I'm here." She looked at him as she took some of his ammo to reload his own guns, she was silent at his words as he had no idea what she was feeling now. She had just found out more than she ever thought she would and she had witnessed so much.

She was feeling as though she was the reason for so much pain and she wasn't even born out of love but out of her mothers twisted desire for revenge. It wasn't the romance she always pictured when she had thought of her parents. It was the cause of so much sorrow. On top of everything she had witnessed Yaro killing Mike earlier in that day. Surely Liene had watched them suffer enough, he could have no more to say; but in that case he would flee leaving them pinned down by his guards. What else could he have to say to them? What other dark secrets did he know? Yaro looked up from his guns and toward Liene.

"You're a twisted bastard!" Yaro yelled to him, "how can you believe that you even deserve to exist in this world after all the pain that you have caused? Will you ever break the cycle you coward!" He fired more shots in anger, an anger Meiko hated seeing in him but she knew that it was justified in every way.

"Yaro, you think you know so much about the world and you think you're s high and mighty," Liene declared, "but the truth is you and I are the same!" Yaro's anger increased at those words. How dare Liene even think that he could compare Yaro to himself; Yaro wanted real and lasting peace while Liene wanted to see the world destroyed. There was nothing about him that was right in any way. There was no one as evil as him the world to Yaro now.

"I'm nothing like you!" Yaro yelled.

"Then you deny that you have killed hundreds of innocents in the battle against the PLANTS?" Liene yelled, "they were fighting under orders not because they wanted to see anyone killed! Besides that Yaro it's your fault Uzumi died! You left him to face Meiko alone with no thought of the dangers he would face from a more experienced pilot! You're the reason this war has persisted and your hatred has been growing since your battle begun. Do you not deny the darkest side of yourself is taking you over, you are morphing into everything you were born to be Yaro!"

"Don't listen to him Yaro!" Meiko declared reaching her hand up to his face as she saw his blood boiling.

"You killed an unarmed man this afternoon and I applauded it!" Liene yelled out.

"Shut up!" Yaro said firing as many shots as he could toward Liene's direction. He had to stop for a reload. Meiko looked toward Kira in fear, Liene's words were eating their way through Yaro's fragile mind. These words were wrong for Liene to say now, he knew what he was doing. He was twisting everything they knew.

'I applauded you boy because you are all I ever hoped you would become," Liene responded, "for you are my son. My child, not Yaro Yamato but Yaro Liene." Flay flinched as the truth came out, she had never imagined this would come out and she cried out in anger. Meiko was stunned to silence at the words and she looked up toward the boy she had come to love, it could not be true; he could not be the son of the monster who was still trying to destroy her. It wasn't real, it wasn't right and Meiko realized that her mother must have known this as well, all along. Milady or rather Flay had known everything and in knowing everything she had let this moment happen. She had let this danger take them all.

"NO, you're a liar!" Yaro declared firing more shots as tears came from his own eyes, "you're a liar!"

"But I speak the truth Yaro," Liene spoke out more, "for it was that whore Flay who stole you from me, leaving her own child and stealing mine. She took you from me and somehow placed you in a place where you would be adopted by the Yamato's. A twisted trade off where Kira got my son and I got his daughter!"

"NO!" Yaro yelled again as his super seed light increased to a new level and his heart near burst inside of him. He moved more swiftly than anyone as he jumped up firing rapidly killing on every shot. Meiko followed as her own anger burned, she moved past her wounds and fired as fast as she could. It was an advance that Liene had not expected; Yaro's super seed and Meiko's dark anger.

* * *

"I've got it!" Kiran declared as he finally broke through the final defense wall around the ROW computers. Trey couldn't describe his relief if he wanted to at this point.

"Hurry it up then!" Yzak's face appeared on the screen. Kiran understood. They had to get into the base.

"Now!" Kiran yelled as he sent his final algorithm and just as sudden as he yelled the robotic units all shut down simultaneously. The battlefield was shocked as the Clyne faction and Redemption forces advanced at their sudden lack of adversaries. Yzak, Dearka and Trey let out cheers of excitement.

"You did it Kiran!" Trey declared, "you did it!"

* * *

"Get a team together quickly Waltfeld!" Lacus declared, "We have to get in there!" Without the robotics the Mar's defense line was so weak that it was certain now that the battle was won. She smiled as she knew now the important thing was to back up those who were in there.

"I'm going in Lacus!" Shinn declared.

"Not yet Shinn!" Lacus asked, "take down the remaining towers first! order the ROW forces to surrender! We're not backing down just yet!" In her mind she hoped Kira could hold on, she knew that she couldn't doubt him, for he probably had the entire situation under control but now. It was just the silence of the building that pained her as she wondered what exactly was taking place.

* * *

Gunshot after gunshot as the two advanced together. Flay stood up at the sight of it amazed by what she was witnessing as ROW's guard line caved over the overwhelming power of the two together. Many guards were dead or wounded and many more were leaving the premise as suddenly an alert rang through the base ordering immediate evacuation. The base rocked again from an explosion and Meiko stumbled but quickly made the final jump to where Liene was, she cocked her gun and fired. The sound of Liene's laughter filled the room as all were stunned by what they saw.

"You think it's that easy Virea," Liene sighed, "You loose Meiko!" The room stopped as they watched the image of Liene fade, a transmission. Meiko dropped her gun and stumbled backwards as the reality of the situation hit here. Liene the master liar had kept them all there and torn them apart for nothing. He was a transmission, he was never really at the base and if he was he evacuated long before.

"No," Meiko spoke the one word as anguish filled her. Yaro's seed faded and he fell to his knee's in exhaustion, emotional and physically. It had all been in vain. They had destroyed the base and killed many of ROW's soldiers but for nothing. Liene was still out there, the gamble had not paid off and now the emotions of the strongest were in a wreck as they were still all socked from the truths that they had heard, the truth designed to hurt them. The facts should not have been spoken the way they were. The harm they had done was irreversible. Everyone was silent until it was Flay who finally realized something as the evacuation alarm continued.

"We've got to get out of here now!" she exclaimed turning to her two guards, "Sent an immediate warning to the forces outside, tell them to get away from the base!" She turned back to Kira, Yaro and Meiko; "the base is going to self destruct, we've got to go now!" She rushed to Meiko grabbing the girls arm and pulling her from the floor. Kira stood up and did the same to Yaro.

"Hurry!" Flay said as she glanced around. They stared to move but Meiko soon stumbled, her wounds catching up to her. Kira stopped for a moment quickly taking his daughter in his arms they moved as fast as they could following Flay back toward the mobile suit bay. Kira glanced at Meiko, tears were still in her eyes as she held onto him staring forward. None of this was the way she had planned it, and now their lives were in danger once again.

Kira was beginning to worry as the alarm was sounding louder but they reached the hangar.

"Take the Justice," Kira yelled to Flay and her two guards as he floated toward the Phoenix, Meiko was the only one who could unlock it. Yaro moved into the Dreamer quickly. They all fastened themselves in.

"Go," Kira said to the other two and they listened.

* * *

Lacus watched as her forces gathered up quickly moving away from the battlefield as best they could. She saw as the Dreamer and the Justice quickly flew from the hangar and held her breath waiting for the final machine. This was happening again. They were fleeing an explosion, only this time their only way out was up into space and off this planet.

The Dreamer and the Justice moved at high speeds away from the base.

* * *

"Meiko you have to do this now," Kira said moving her hands toward the controls, "listen to me, you have to do this!" He shook her as he realized she was still in shock from everything. She nodded to him and moved her hands to the keyboard releasing the lock with ease. He quickly moved the controls taking advantage of the build of the machine. It was made for high speeds. He let out a shout as the Phoenix blasted out of the base just in time, the explosions had begun.

* * *

**SO I'm not sure how you're all going to react to this one, it's been a long time coming. I knew there were predictions about Milady being Flay and I knew many suspected Meiko as being Kira's daughter but I was certain that no one saw the last revelation coming; Yaro as Liene's son.**

**SO naturally after working all day to crank this out I want to know what you think of it. It was quite exciting to write since I have pictured this scene in my head for two years now, waiting for the chance I would get to write it. Now I go that chance so here it is. So review and tell me what you think about this chapter and what you think about how everyone will react!  
**

**-Winterchill.  
**


	45. Echos of a Darkened Past

**Going back to the beginning of why I started this story. The idea was formed around a Gundam Wing fanfic I had been planning at the time and the speculation that I had heard surrounding Flay's status. This story was basically birthed out of the question, what if Flay had been pregnant? And if that was the case what if that child lived? I wanted to explore that in a story, so I created Meiko and set her up in ROW. Yaro was conceived in my mind later as a counter balance to Meiko's journey and a character with which to add romance. I thought several times about making a twin for Meiko but decided against it. I placed Yaro as Liene's son very early on as I established Liene as the main villain, little did I know I would revamp the end of this story and the enter story of Immortal (which I originally called For Eternity) changing everything.**

**On the note of Mike Shustre's death, his number was actually up after Uzumi's death. I was originally going to have Yaro kill him in a mobile suit battle where Yaro is trying to kill Meiko but Mike takes the hit. I decided against it as I wanted Mike around for intrigue and to show an inside look at how someone is disillusioned by ROW, so I switched the moment of his death but kept his killer the same. It was Yaro's job to end his life, I determined that a long time ago.**

* * *

**Phase 43: Echos of the Darkened Past**

* * *

"Hold on!" Kira cried out as he slammed the controls harder realizing the Phoenix, however fast it was, was going to be engulfed in the fast moving heat of the flames. He had to get them out of there now. The revelation that Meiko was his daughter changed things in a way Liene did not expect. Now Kira understood what was so different about her, why he trusted her so quickly and why they fought together so well. Now there was a hugh part of him that just wanted to protect her with all that was within him, he would protect her from this.

"No!" Meiko cried out as she felt a pain in her mind. In that same moment Kira was shocked to feel a different explosion in his own mind as a violet glow filled up the space in front of him and the seed explosion escalated. He felt it as pain at first and at the same time Meikos fragile super seed ignited.

_Meiko found herself in a dream world, floating over a horizon of stars. Everything was not what it seemed, for everything in her world was different that she could have ever predicted. Everything she was had fallen apart and she was the one to blame for it all._

_"No Meiko, you did not really fail, for the truth is not the end of everything," the voice knew her thoughts as she turned to see Uzumi Zala before her speaking to her as he always did "For everything Liene said was true; you are what he says, and that makes us family. I always knew there was a connection between us but knowing it now, I understand why I felt as though I had to fight for you, as though you were important to the world. None of this changes anything really; don't let it cause the division Liene intended for." She looked at him with a strange look in her eyes; here she was facing a past she didn't know existed and Uzumi was here as ever before defending her from the things around her that tried to once again stop her resilience. _

_"But what about Yaro?" Meiko asked, for he was John Liene's son and for that he would surely break. So many times she had tried to explain to herself why it was that he lashed out and so many times she realized there was no way to explain it. But now there was, he carried part of his father in him, a darkened past._

_"You must trust the hearts of those that raised him," Uzumi spoke with wisdom, "for though his past is darker than most, there were those within his family who only wished for light. By the grace of those that love him he can be saved but if that love does not temper the darkness of this grim secret then he will surely fall. Everything that happens to him is up to you Meiko. Will you stand by him or watch him crawl?"_

_"I will stand by him!" Meiko declared, "even if he does not want me to, I will never back down!" _

_"Then go back and watch resiliently," Uzumi said with a sigh, "for everything is far from over."_

Kira had never felt power like this before as the systems of the machine changed before him, the machine was changing with the change of the two minds within it.

"What's happening?" Kira asked.

"SS, welcome," a robotic voice sounded, "the light of the super seed has shined." Meiko watched in awe as the machine changed and everything became suddenly faster and stronger. The machine moved faster and faster toward the end of the explosion, no damage to it could be sustained. They were on their way out.

* * *

The explosion was large as the Clyne faction and Redemption watched in awe as the fire rose up from the base. Lacus cried out as she saw the Phoenix engulfed within the flames. The Dreamer and the Justice had just landed aboard the Eternal and reported that Kira was with Meiko in the Phoenix, and piloting it for her. Leyas near leapt from her seat by Trey was at her side. Him and Kiran and gotten to the bridge soon after boarding the Eternal when the order was given to flee from the base.

"Daddy!" Leyas yelled to the screen. Kayla was also on the bridge, she had been silent through the entire battle watching events unfold and feeling pain in her heart from things she couldn't explain. So much more happened this day than the battle and she knew that she had warned Yaro of his past and that warning had done nothing to help her. The explosion seemed to get larger as everyone focused in saying nothing wondering if the two most invincible of them would make it out of this once again. It was then that the flames started to receded and out of the fire came a light, a violet glow as the Phoenix glowed flying unscathed through the flames at a high speed and toward the Eternal.

"They're safe!" Kayla declared as everyone watched in shock of what they were seeing. The machine was glowing with a streaking violet glow. Lacus let out a cry of joy and leaping toward the exit and the hangar. The battle was over.

Kayla was less satisfied, disaster had reigned true today.

* * *

Yzak, Dearka, Trey, Kiran, Leyas, Kayla and Lacus. They were in the hangar now as Milady, now face uncovered was there as well. She felt warm tears in her eyes, everything was sure to be different she saw Yaro, his expression numb and pale from everything.

"Yaro," Lacus floated toward him and hugged him but got no response. This hurt her, she saw the expression of Milady as well and the face before her was strangely familiar, something had gone wrong inside that base. Something that had caused the expressions to these two people to be as though the battle had been lost when it had clearly been won by the Clyne faction and Redemption. Sure Liene had not been captured but the ground they had gained was monumental. They had found a major weakness to the robotics and outwitted a group of ROW generals. Lacus's train of thought was interrupted as Kira floated out of the Phoenix supporting Meiko next to him as she appeared to be wounded. Lacus noticed as Yaro backed away, cowering toward the Dreamer.

Flay floated forward a little, eager to get this confrontation over with. She was sure what was going to happen next, for Liene had planned all this for a reason.

"Kira!" Lacus declared floating to give him a hug, he smiled at her letting go of Meiko to hug her back. The girl moved to the floor swiftly supporting herself as best she could. She turned to Flay, her expression hardened. Everyone watched on as it seemed that Meiko was ready to burst at any moment toward this woman whom had been her ally before the battle.

"We're alright," Kira said to Lacus as they floated closer to the ground, "but it seems everything was not what it seemed." He turned toward Flay, "perhaps Athrun and Cagalli were right not to trust you, for you knew everything all along and you still let us walk into that trap. You know how many people could have died today, including Meiko! She's your daughter Flay, not some chess piece for you to manipulate as you have for so long!" Everyone looked shocked as Dearka realized where he recognized her from and as Miriallia who had joined the Eternal on the bridge for the battle entered, shocked as well by who she was seeing there before them. Flay had died in that battle, there was no way she could be here now, and as Milady Redemption.

"You think you understand things don't you Kira," Flay spat back, "you can evaluate and decide things so well by yourself and through your own reasoning. Who are you to judge me for my decisions? Who are you to pass over everything that has just happened and blame it all on me?"

"You never thought to come to me?" Kira accused, "when you knew that I was alive and I never had the slightest idea that I could have a daughter somewhere in the world!" Tears filled Meiko's eyes at this. "Let everyone know now what it was that you have done to us all! The lies and the deception that you passed over us! Tell them Flay Allster!" He said her name in anger now, for she had caused him so much pain in the past. He had griped to save her for he felt he owed it to her when the truth was that she had only every tried to cause his death and she had known that she carried his child. She had abandoned Meiko to ROW and instead of rescuing her straight away she had let Meiko grow up in that awful life. She had never even thought to go to him and explain everything that had happened. She had never thought that her actions could eventually effect so many once again. She was still the same person that she had ever been before, only this time she had worn a mask to deceive those around her.

"It's true," she spoke up, "I am Flay Allster, and Meiko is my daughter and also Kira's daughter." Everyone was stunned in silence. Kiran, Kayla and Leyas looked at Meiko shocked at the revelation that they had a sister. "It was a long time ago, and no mater how Liene tried to say everything, he doesn't know the truth of everything that happened. Perhaps Kira you don't want to know the truth. You who were always so concerned about your own pain; you never even once saw what I was going through, you never knew the pain I felt inside from everything I was trying to do and everything that I had witnessed."

"Because you lied to everyone from the beginning," Kira accused, "and now look where your lies have brought us!"

"But could I really have come to you when I lost Meiko?" Flay asked now, "for you had a life, and I didn't want to take you from it in search of a little girl whom I wasn't even sure was still alive. For Liene was angry with me for stealing his son, how was I to know that my daughter would live?" Yaro hated hearing himself once again confirmed as Liene's son, it was like someone was twisting a pain inside him. It was a fact that made him want to scream at this moment but he held in it.

"Stop it!" Meiko's voice came with strength as tears flowed from her eyes, "damn it, stop it all of you!" She stood up angry, "None of us carry the sole blame for what happened and none of us can change it! Standing here and arguing with each other isn't going to solve anything."

"It's cause none of you understand," Flay tried to speak but Meiko cut her off.

"Don't you see?" she asked, "this is exactly what Liene predicted. He revealed the dark truths that surround us and he knew that it would cause us to fight among ourselves. This is how he knew it would go, this is what he wants! And while all of us carry a little bit of pain from everything that has taken place don't you realize that in the midst of this we have a chance to turn it around on Liene. We are stronger than him, and we do not have to be his puppets! We can either let this tear us apart or we can let this break us." Tears filled her eyes at her own words as the realization of everything filled her, "That's what Mike would have wanted us to do, to continue and to fight him united and strong as we have always been." She cried more now as mentioning Mike's name hurt her and the thought of all the things he had done for her. To be killed the way he was, after surviving so long in ROW was an injustice and she knew that she couldn't blame Yaro for everything. Liene had set it all up and twisted everything so that this day they would be defeated from within. No more of this, Meiko would take a stand for the right truth that they were all somehow family and they would find a way together.

"Fine," Kira conceded seeing the determination in Meiko's eyes, "but I want to know the truth of everything, no more secrets and no more lies."

"Everything?" Lacus questioned shocked at all that had come out, "could there be anything more to say?" She felt herself as if she was going to cry seeing the brokeness of those who had returned from the depths of the ROW base. Kira out his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer as she felt words coming forth from her, "it's like Meiko says, this is the information that should bring us together, not tear us apart. We can't let the way in which this was revealed destroy everything."

"Then we will all figure this out together," Flay responded, she understood what Meiko was saying, "and I will tell you everything I can, explain everything that I can. I know you all think I was wrong but I had my reasons." Meiko turned away from her to Yaro, she had never seen him looking so low before.

"Yaro this doesn't change anything," Meiko spoke to him now, "nothing Liene says changes anything." Yaro looked up at her, mixed emotions in his eyes; fear, sorrow, shame, apology, and hatred. He was the son of John Liene, the man who had twisted the world and destroyed everything that he had once had. All along Yaro fought him as he was the darkness in the world and all along he was laughing knowing that when it came down to the truth he could destroy everything Yaro believed in in one sentence. What he had said could not really be true. Yaro tried to fight the idea of it but the pieces all fit together, Rayla Frost had bee the one to bring him to the orphanage and she was Flay Allster whom had stolen Liene's son.

"It changes everything," Yaro responded in a soft voice, "I understand now. The reason I'm so different. The reason my battlefield is one of hatred, it's because inside of me is a part of him, that changes everything."

"No," Lacus spoke up now. For here before her was her son, the child whom had comforted her when she was weak and who possessed a kindness that was unequaled by many, for he was a one of a kind boy. No DNA could change that. "You are my son Yaro," Lacus said, "mine and Kira's. Nothing Liene says changes who you were raised with. Nothing of where you come from changes how much we care about you. You have been such a strength and help to us through life, and we love you. We don't want to loose you." The three siblings then stepped forward.

"And where would we be without our big brother?" Kiran asked, "you never lived the life Liene wanted for you, and just because you know the truth now doesn't mean you have to start." Yaro felt even more broken up by the words he was hearing. It was true, he felt more connected to these people than to anyone, for they had always been by his side but he felt some doubt. Could they really get past this? Could he really get past this?

"I am the one who would have cause to hate you the most," Meiko spoke up now, "for everything he did to me. But Yaro look at yourself, all the stuff he has done are not you. Everything he stands for is not you. You may lash out differently than the rest of us but you are not him. It is him I hate and not you, for you are your own person despite where you come from." She floated toward him seeing his uncertainty and she put her arms around him he soon gripped her close to him as tears came from his eyes. She was still there for him, even after everything. She was right about being the one person who would really have cause to hate him for his past, but she could never do that to him. For he was the one that she cared for most. Their lives had been switched at birth, and she now realized that it was destiny. For if Yaro had been raised like her he would be unstoppable, but she had the grace of her family holding her back from doing all the things Liene had wanted her to. She now thanked whatever power helped them that they had been switched, for because of that power they were together.

When Yaro let go of her he noticed she looked very pale. She turned back to the people before them all, now she had family among them, siblings and a father. It was then that everything hit her at once, she remembered her pain as her mind became fragile once again. Something had given her the strength to last this long but she cried out in pain now. At her side instantly were Yaro and Kira as her hand flew to her side where a bullet had been shot.

"To the medical center now!" Kira yelled as Yaro took Meiko in his arms and the two floated quickly out of the hangar, Flay and Lacus followed leaving the kids and veteran pilots stunned at everything. Family relations on the ship just got a whole lot weirder.

* * *

"So Meiko is our half sister?" Leyas spoke up first as she, Kiran, Kayla, and Trey had all left the hangar together toward the dining hall. They were all shocked and shaken up by all they had witnessed in the aftermath of the battle. They had considered it a victory until their family had returned bearing news that had effected all their main pilots, plus the information that Liene had somehow escaped again and they had no idea where he was now and what he was planning to do next. Leyas was also shocked by the news that her adopted brother was Liene's stolen son, it seemed completely ironic to her but it was as Meiko said he was no different to her.

"Apparently," Kiran sighed, "and all this time I thought that mom was the only girl dad had ever had. Seems there is a whole history we know nothing about as well. Do you wonder if any of this will change things in our family?" Leyas had wondered about that as well, but she doubted it would change very much aside from Meiko becoming closer with them all.

"I think that we shall all have to get to know our sister better," Kayla spoke up now, "and we'll all have to continue to stand by Yaro till he gets past this, that information is the most worrying to me. He's already so messed up by this war, we should continue on as family to him and perhaps take the time to understand his feelings about the issue so we can help him work through it. But on the note of mother and father they are as solid as can be, I don't think that Milady will change any of that; she did make daddy really angry with all her lies after all and it does not really sound like their relationship ended very well in the past." Leyas nodded, she knew she shouldn't doubt her parents strength through this new challenge. She was just wondering what exactly happened to bring all this about. Meiko was young, 18 so that meant her father was 16 when he fathered her. Leyas thought about it more and she understood his stance against her and Trey more. He had gotten into a relationship young and it had ended wrong in his mind, he was just being protective. She just wished he was more honest about it all, now it was shocking to her that they had an older sister from a past that they had no idea about.

"The way I see it you're all going to love having Meiko as a sibling," Trey responded to the discussion, "I did spend years with her when we were in 'captivity' in ROW and I think of her much as my own sister. She's a special individual with a kind heart and a loyalty that is unequaled. She used to have issues with trust but since breaking from ROW it's as if she's been completely healed of everything. I don't know how but she's become even stronger now." Kiran nodded, he had talked to Meiko once and he thought she was really cool. Imagining her as a sister was interesting to him though.

"I wondered why none of us guessed it before!" Kiran spoke up now, "I mean the signs were all there. She had a connection with you Leyas, remember? And you had never seen her before!" Leyas thought way back and she had always wondered what it was about Meiko that their minds were able to sync the way they had.

"And she caused my seed to burst when she got close to the ship months back when we were fleeing the PLANTs," Kayla replied, "I never made the connection but as she got closer to the ship I saw violet eyes and my seed cracked. At the same time Meiko's piloting skills dropped significantly giving Yaro the chance to actually fight her off. It was very strange."

"And that brings us to another thing!" Leyas exclaimed, "none of us have ever spoke of it but have you noticed she has father's eyes, the same eyes as me. I noticed it the day I met her and I concluded it was coincidence but now thinking back I should have wondered more about how striking a feature that was. I mean, how many people in the world have eyes like fathers!" They thought about it more, that was the most obvious feature marking her as well as her face structure being very much like Kira's. Heck, everything but her hair fit the description of a Yamato. These connections had never been made in their minds, and now they wondered why.

"Remember that you all had no idea of your father ever loving another," Trey said as he listened to them speak all the similarities, "and based on her age and Kira's approximate age at the time she would have been born it really isn't much of an error on your part not recognizing her. You have never suspected that you could have a half sister, so these features would be noticed by you but the connection would never be made in your mind based on lack of information." The three of them all saw what Trey was saying and it made sense.

"Except for father," Kayla responded with sudden revelation, "he knew everything, and he never even made the connection."

"Because he thought Flay was dead," Kiran replied, "it was never contested in his mind because remember what he said when he got back 'how did you survive?' He never guessed it because he thought she died!"

"It's just insane that we have had Meiko with us for this long now," Leyas said shaking her head and looking toward Trey, "and all along she's family. And Yaro, we grew up with him as our big brother! All along he's the son of the man who killed Uzumi and our main enemy! It's crazy to think about everything, so messed up!" They all paused once again thinking about Yaro, this new information was probably impossible for him to stomach at this point since it made all them feel very odd about the things that they had witnessed up to this point. Their brother was not different, it was just hard to face the truth. This was the reason for everything they couldn't explain about him. He was always different and now they knew, but what would they do with that information? Nothing was going to be the same, though they all wanted it to. It just couldn't be the same

* * *

Yaro sat by Meiko's side as the monitors were beeping around her. The medical doctor was surprised by her strength when she had lost so much blood. She had been rushed through surgery to remove the bullets and repair some damaged tissue but there was really not much they could do beyond that. The doctor said she needed rest and that if it had been a natural she would be dead already but her breathing was steady and even in sleep she appeared strong. Yaro looked up toward the window into the next room where Yzak had is arm around Flay as she was apparently telling the whole truth of everything that had happened. He himself was still completely shaken up by the truth and he tried to fathom it but he felt guilty that he had been born. He had already caused pain like his father to people, he wasn't even sure of the impact that he himself had made but he knew that he had embarked on a dangerous path now that he knew the truth.

What prevented him from slipping into the madness of his own father? What could he do to prevent everything? He looked toward Meiko and knew that she would never lie to him, she didn't blame him for anything and the truth changed nothing for her but would it be the same way for the world around him? Of course his family loved him, that was who they were. He knew that they accepted people regardless of their background. Athrun's father had been a tyrant himself, and Yaro wondered if there was a way for him to contact Athrun sometime soon; for his uncle would be the only one to understand now how exactly it felt to have a blood relative for an enemy.

Now where did he go from here? There was a whole world out there waiting for him to show his true colors and to fail on the right path that he had always been set on but his plan now was to fight for the truth. He wanted to stand for everything Meiko stood for, not to fall away like his father had. For he knew now and saw that his father could not have always been the monster he was now. He had always heard that evil men were not born but made and he now feared that perhaps Liene had set the situations of his life trying to throw Yaro right down the path he was on. For if Liene had known for this long who Yaro was, he must have been dictating events in a higher way than any of them had realized. Sending Meiko to ORB where she met Yaro and manipulating situations to where his anger lashed against her. Liene had always known how Yaro would react and he must have been setting situations for those reactions.

Yaro watched as Meiko stirred as he took her hand in his. She looked so peaceful now, so very peaceful. Her life had not been one that was easy as his had always been. He had always had everything, love and family and perhaps sometimes he didn't deserve it. But now everything was burning down around him and it was as if some invisible force was asking him if he would just let it happen. It was asking him if he would stand, fight or cower away. No, he had come so far in this, too far now to do anything but stand.

No more fear, cause he was now different somehow. This secret was dark but he felt in his soul echoing Meiko; he was not his father and he certainly did not have to follow that path. He was his own person and he wold make his own decisions. For better or for worse he would confront who he was in hopes that he would prove to the world he was a better man than John Liene would be. Even if it took him a lifetime he would prove that to the world and to himself

"No matter the cost," He spoke these words quietly to Meiko, "I promise myself and you that nothing will stop us and I will stand by you as you have me. I will fight this evil in the world and I will destroy it no matter what it takes."

* * *

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Kira said calmly, he was replaying Meiko's words in his head over and over but it was hard for him. Flay had been one of his regrets in the first war, the way he had treated her in his mind was wrong but at the same time she had only used him to exact her revenge upon him for his one mistake. Lacus was by his side as it should be and Yzak was by Flay's, for they had apparently met in ZAFT when Flay was captured and afterward Flay had gone to him when she needed help. They had apparently become more than friends as he was one of her constant supports.

"Lay off Kira," Yzak responded to his words, "She's been through enough with all this." Lacus nodded at Yzak's words, it was a lot to fathom at once but it was something she knew they needed to do. They needed to face the past without all the accusations for it was certain that nothing was the way it was supposed to be.

"I am going to start from the beginning," Flay said, "for it started the moment my father died." She felt her breath waver as in her mind she was taken back to that defining moment in her life, for it was the moment that had driven her into a deep darkness that had cost her everything that she had once known and thrown her onto the path that led her to ROW. "The day my father died, I'm sure you remember, for I tortured and screamed at you as if the whole thing was your fault; I then apologized like I cared when the truth was I wanted you dead. I had made it my sole mission in life to drive you on to fight your hardest to protect me so that we would be safe and that so one day you would die in battle, alone as my father had. I was so wrong but this is what dictated my actions through everything, as I'm sure you realize now." Kira breathed in as hearing her say it brought him back as well, it was a hard time they were in and he was desperate for someone to understand what he was going through. Flay was the only one who seemed to care, the reality that she was the one that hated him most at that time never really struck him until Liene's words came through and he understood. She had confided it all in Liene, no doubt hating herself for her own anger. Kira now realized why there was so much anger in Meiko, for she was part of Flay as well as him.

"I never realized," Kira replied, "it was all that plain though, because it never made sense to me why you who seemed to disdain coordinators so much would look at me over the man whom your father had chosen for you. I was too blind myself to really see what it was you wanted." Lacus looked between them and she thought back to when she had first met Flay, it was a long time before and it was something that had always made her sad. She saw that this one person was so overwhelmed by bitterness that she couldn't even tell a friendly gesture from an unkind one when it came to coordinators. She was prejudiced and cruel. But then again it was the world she lived in, not really something that she had wanted to be.

"I remember," Lacus spoke up now as the memory replayed in her head, "you hated coordinators and you hated me. I never understood what caused it because I was so young. It was the world we lived in and the lies that all naturals were fed from the times of their youth. I can not blame you for any of it because it wasn't your fault. It wasn't supposed to be like that." Flay also replayed the memory with tears in her eyes.

"Oh Lacus I don't think of you like that anymore," Flay replied to her, "I was so blind and naive back then, I couldn't even see what I was doing. But you have been a champion for peace and justice; one of the few people in the world who risked everything even with the death of your own father to fight for what was right. I admire you for everything because it couldn't have been easy. I know what it is like to loose a father and believe me, I have seen for so long that yours is a response of a true hero. Coordinator or natural, what does it matter? Because we all live in this world and we are all human." Flay breathed in going over everything once again, "but this wasn't always the way I thought. It was because Kira, when I thought you were gone after that battle I began to change. I through you were dead and I realized then that I cared for you, it wasn't a deep love but rather a feeling that I had lost a dear friend, someone that was irreplaceable." Kira had never known that she had felt anything in his death; the had broken up just before that after all.

"It was then that I realized it didn't matter that you were a coordinator," Flay continued on, "Then I was captured by ZAFT in the battle at Alaska. I was scared at first but there were people who were kind to me. The people around me laughed and cried, felt pain and sorrow as well as joy the same way as any natural. It opened my eyes to the indoctrination of the world that I lived in and the blindness I was so under. You know I was then taken aboard Dominion and there I let everything out, how I felt and how I just needed to say I was sorry. In that moment Natarle Badgiruel realized the truth that I was indeed pregnant, with Meiko." Kira's face changed at that, he had never even thought of the possibility when they were together and he had never realized even when she had started to act kinda strange. "It was here that our stories change, that everything you know was different. Badgiruel knew that Azreal would never let me leave the ship on that basis but she realized I couldn't fight in the battle in my state, nor should I have ever been fighting. She then made arrangements with a member of the crew, something I am so thankful for to this day even though it almost failed. She had a girl from the moonbase take my place; she made sure this girl looked shockingly similar to me and even taught her to act like me in a short time."

"So wait you weren't aboard the Dominion when the battle had begin, then you weren't aboard that shuttle?" Kira asked thinking it over, "but rather the double was?" Flay nodded.

"I'm getting to that," she replied going through it, "the problem remained with the switch, trusting someone enough to be able to take me to earth when the entire Earth Alliance fleet and all soldiers were gearing up for an all out battle. At the time there was a young geneticist working with the extendeds, he was John Liene and he was not a part of the military. He offered to take me off the ship when Natarle informed him of my condition. That was the day when everything changed, Azreal caught wind of my leaving and dispatched someone to kill me for my insolence. That persona almost succeeded, I was shot three times. The upper right shoulder, the leg and again in my right shoulder. Liene was somehow able to kill my assassin and get be away from the Earth Alliance before the battle started but in my grief I felt a power rising up inside me, surrounding me and claiming me. I know now that power was Meiko's super seed, the first manifestation led me before you in my mind and heart. She gave me the power to say all I needed to say to you as I thought I was dying."

"So that was how I saw you there before me," Kira made the connection finally. All along it had been Meiko who had given them that moment to say goodbye, that moment that was so important in providing real closer to the relationship they had shared. "It was Meiko."

"Her light illuminating through me," Flay nodded, "I was able to speak my peace but for some reason I did not die as I thought I would. I awoke so far later. I had been in a coma for two months and when I awoke I was completely fine, no scars nor marks showing anything of what had happened. I then felt an emptiness for I knew I could never return to the world I had built on earth and with those whom I had betrayed. But through it all Liene was there, taking care of me and sharing with me his dreams and visions. Through his plan to unite the world I saw a path for myself that would bring me to redemption. At the time he also had a young son, not named Yaro; no Yaro's original name was Amach. I thought the boy was truly amazing, but then you both know how he was as a child." They both understood what she meant. As a child Yaro was a light to them and he had helped them through many rough times. He was their little boy and nothing could change that.

"He saved me when I was giving up," Lacus spoke up now, "when I thought the world was crashing down around me and Kira wasn't there beside me. Yaro showed me the world in a different way then I had remembered it, and I then remembered what it was like to see the world through the eyes of a child. With so much wonder and love for everything there was. He was truly one of a kind."

"That he was," Flay affirmed, "I thought Liene was like that as well so I committed Meiko to his program, gave her up to be part of his plan and his world. I never realized what he wanted was to destroy everything I believed in." She breathed in, this was the part where it got really dicey. Mistakes that she had made had cost her Meiko and she could never undo that part of what she had done. "But I was so wrong. Liene was the one man who would destroy everything I loved. I had worked for him, killed for him; he had trained me as an assassin, a warrior and one of his most trusted. During the time when I was just Meikos mother I was known as Mariah Virea and then when I had graduated into Liene's puppet I was Rayla Frost, a feared name in many nations. I would have gone on blindly where it not for witnessing the way Liene tortured and killed children in his program, the way he looked at life l like it meant nothing; like it was disposable. I argued with him and fought him declaring my resignation, but he would not have that. I had to run, in the midst of it all I could not find Meiko; for Liene had secured her right after our fight making sure there was no way I could get to her so when I was in the nursery I near died at the thought when I saw Yaro, the little boy whose father didn't deserve him. What else could I do but cut my losses and save the other child." They all now saw what made her do it, for if any of them had been in her place they would have rather saved Yaro than done nothing.

"On my way out I knew I could not leave without assurance that someone would watch over my baby," she remembered that moment so well, "Mike Shustre. He was a young officer who loved me, but I felt nothing for him and in this last moment in ROW I did something I've always done well. I lied to him and used him, leaving him to watch Meiko, promising I would return but I never did. I left far away to begin again vowing to myself to stop Liene and I believe you know how the rest goes." They did. She created Redemption, made sure Yaro was well taken care of and she fought against ROW in the shadows awaiting the day when she could rescue Meiko. In perspective it all made much more sense to them. Kira realized now he could accuse all he wanted but the blame did not really lie in her, but in Liene. For Liene had changed the course of history in using Meiko to destroy the nations of the world. For Liene had cause more pain than anyone in this. Somehow he was behind everything.

"So where do we go from here?" Kira spoked up now, "it all makes sense now but what about tomorrow? Meiko's my daughter and I surely would like her to be a part of my family, it might be harder though." Flay understood what he meant, Meiko was to be a part of the family but it was all up to Meiko to make a choice. For this was the choice Flay did not want to give her out of selfishness; to choose between her father and her mother.

"It doesn't have to be one or the other," Lacus spoke up seeing the tension, "surely Meiko would like to be a part of all the lives of those around her. I mean already she's become such a part of our lives because of Yaro and I have seen how she cares about you Flay; I don't think the truth will really change that. I'm sure that everything will turn out right and that we'll all figure this out." Kira smiled at Lacus's words, she was right as usual; Meiko was a determined and stubborn person and it seemed now she was stubborn enough to stop the fight that Liene had tried to start. She was a mediator between them first, so he realized now it was certain she wanted them to all work it out because she did care about all of them,

"We just hope she wakes up stronger than before," Yzak said as they looked through the window down into the hospital room where Yaro was at Meiko's side. They all knew that every time she was in this position she did wake up stronger; as if some invisible force held her soul in close grip.

"Do you ever wonder how she made it through so much pain as a child?" Kira asked them all, "and how she was able to overcome her own guilt to stand again." Flay looked down upon her daughter and she did not have all the answers to the questions. Any other person would have caved under the heavy pressure ROW had placed on her. She was their top killer for so long, and yet she was able to forgive herself of everything and move on. There had to be something behind it all really. Flay had just believed it was because of her family history; that she carried Kira's genes but looking down on her she wondered what else there could be. Meiko seemed so frail by look but she was strong, there was something giving her that strength to go on. It was truly supernatural.

* * *

Andrew Walfelt commanded the ships as they moved toward the Clyne faction base. His mind went over the happenings of the past few hours. Lacus and Flay had given orders to return to the Clyne faction base, as there was nothing else for them on Mars. He near laughed at the situation when they first came back, he had always known that Meiko and Kira were somehow similar he just never really made the full connection like everyone else. There was a distinct likeness in her eyes to her father and that was clear to everyone.

"Families," Dearka sighed floating onto the bridge, "what do you do with them?" Miriallia floated in after him. Ever since Miriallia had decided to join the crew the two had been near inseparable. This wasn't shocking to Waltfeld as he always wondered why exactly they broke up. They made a good couple.

"I still can't believe Flay is alive!" Mirialla said, they had just come from the bridge where Kiran was going on and on about how shocking it all was. "I remember it like yesterday, when Kira returned from the battlefield and told us what had happened. I had always wondered if there was a way I could help her when we were on the archangel, she seemed so lost but then again she wouldn't really talk to us. I think I understand her random behaviors now, and why she always seemed to be sick. Crazy to think that way back then Kira had a daughter and didn't even know it!" Dearka nodded, he remembered Flay as well; one particular incident when she had gone psycho and tried to kill him. Mirialla had also tried the same thing and he had wondered at the time what the earth forces were feeding those girls.

"I wonder how he's coping with it all," Dearka responded, "I mean Meiko was raised in ROW and that's really heavy stuff."

"But she's changed so much since then, with all that's happened I wouldn't be surprised if she found another way to save us all," Miriallia said, "It's incredible how much things have changed. I can't help but feel they will continue to change, it's not over yet. Liene did get away after all."

"But Meiko know's enough about ROW," Waltfeld spoke up to her comment, "I have no doubt that her determination is stronger now than it was before. She seems like the kind of person who doesn't like people messing with her family. Even though he did get away again, I am almost certain that next time his number will be up. I know we're drawing closer to the end, even the past secrets can't change the future. And I can see us winning the next battle easily. Everyone see's Mars as a loss, but it proved something important; we can beat ROW on an open field." Mirialla nodded at this, they could beat ROW and they just had to.

* * *

"Liene was forced to abandon his Mars base," Jayley said to the man on the screen. Gera sighed in the background. There had been peace talks between the PLANT council and the NEA; the faith of the PLANTs in Jayley was shaken after what happened in ORB and Jayley had blamed Gera for failure. Gera was just angry at that pilot of the Phoenix who had stolen everything from her.

"Yes," the man said, "but be vigilant the end is coming and everything I have planned will come to pass, for it is the earth that will have to unite if the evil is ever to be irradicated. We're very close now Jayley; ROW's role in this game is almost over." Jayley nodded to him, she was happy about them being close to their goals but she was nervous about what the Clyne faction and Redemption would do. They wanted peace but would they go along with everything once it all took place. She still believed that they all had to be destroyed along with ORB but her organization had stepped away and were apparently taking a different policy now.

"Still I don't believe that we can really continue with ORB and Lacus Clyne breathing down our necks!" Jayley declared unable to hold it back any longer, "you know them as well as I do, they'll view our actions as antagonistic and come out against us. They do not understand the measures that need to be taken and they will be a hinderance more than anyone else."

"Silence," Gera winced at the man's angry voice as he spoke that one word, "our master has declared that we leave them be for now. Besides this is another important piece of information I need to give you; our spies in ROW have confirmed the identity of the Phoenix to be Meiko Virea; a ghost returned from the grave." Jayley's eyes widened at the words. She remembered that girl well from her time in ROW, and Liene didn't know but she knew everything about Meiko's history. Now it seemed that if Meiko was indeed the Phoenix she was with ORB and the Clyne faction and Redemption; she was with her family and she knew Jayley's involvement with ROW. That girl could be the undoing of everything if she really knew how far Jayley's own allegiances went, but she was a foolish and headstrong girl that was too emotional for her own good. Still now it made sense to Jayley how Gera was defeated so easily.

"And we are not to deal with this threat?" Jayley asked.

"No," the man responded, "let nature run it's course. It seems her own actions may prove self destructive. Continue on and ignore everything, I will send further details later." Jayley responded with their ending words, affirming where there allegiances were. Gera was now angry, it was no fair that Meiko had to be the one who was always upstaging her, from the time they were both little girls stuck in ROW. Gera didn't care what orders were, if she ever met Meiko or Yaro in battle again she would do everything in her power to kill them.

* * *

"Bring on the next stage," Liene shouted to the officers, "let fire and brimstone rain. For the world will feel our power as we destroy everything in our path! I want all units to report and all ships at this base as soon as possible. This is the moment we have been waiting for all these years. Now our enemy is weak and now we will strike at them in every way we can!" The officers cheered at his words as he smiled. Things were moving faster now, it was not over. Flay Allster and Meiko Virea had slighted him for the last time, now they would see the world crumble before their eyes as ROW made it's move. Soon very soon, everything was about to change once again; for he would plunge the world into the fires of chaos knowing that if it did recover, it would be stronger than ever before.

* * *

_"Hold on to everything you have," she listened to Uzumi's voice as she walked down a path in the woods in front of her, it was moments like these she knew were important to hold onto for he saw everything before she did, and he was guiding her even in death. "You are going to face so much at once Meiko, but you're strong and now you know what it is around you that will support you through everything. You're going to make it through again, I promise you that it's going to be alright as I've always said." She smiled at his words. This time she couldn't see him but just to hear him there made her feel safer. _

_"You know it's not going to be easy," Meiko replied to him, "yet you always make it sound like it will be." She heard him laugh a little at her words. "I'm serious Uzumi, you always make it sound easy and I just wish you were still really there beside us all."_

_"But I am," he responded, "and if you think about it, it's been much easier than it would have been years before. Everything is relative Meiko. You're perspective is what is important." She know what he was saying was correct. Still it made her wonder what was really ahead and how much of it she was really ready for._

_"You know someday I will join you," Meiko said to him thinking about all her close scrapes in the past, "but that day's not anytime soon. I plan on defeating Liene and restoring peace to the world then maybe in the future I will find myself content with everything, content enough to leave." He smiled in the distance at the thought, for he could see that things were moving quicker than she expected and perhaps the road to peace was much longer than anyone predicted. For the end of one war could easily be the beginning of another but the ideals of peace that Meiko would carry he knew would be immortal as the sun; unfailing and always there to shine light after the darkness of the night._

* * *

**Disclaimer: Here you heard Flay's account of her survival. It may be farfetched but it's what I have come up in light of what we saw in the anime, keeping with the flow of everything in the real story. I worked with the story to make my change work, keeping all appearances alive. I had thought about many other alternatives to Flay's survival with the existence of Meiko but I decided that my original idea worked best. I hope it wasn't too crazy to change the story too much but it was what I came up with.**

**So I've been able to post a lot more lately, because of my spring break, which is over now so it may get slow again but how crazy is it that in seven phases I will be done? I can barely believe it! I'm heading toward the end of one of the biggest journeys I have ever embarked on. When I first started writing this story I had no idea how I was going to drag everything out for 50 phases but for awhile there I wasn't sure 50 would contain it. And this is just the beginning, Immortal is being revamped with some awesome new plot lines and new characters based on experiences that I have had in the past two years. Let's just say it's a much different story that it was when I first began writing it. **

**So this was the longest chapter I've written in awhile and I wanted to expand more and go into ORB but I feel like I have enough time for everything else in the next two phases and I wanted to release this one as soon as I could. So here it is, I hope you all enjoy!**

**Also I wanted to thank all of you who have been reviewing, I feel like a lot of your reviews have made me come at this story with a renewed vigor and passion to power through the next part of it. So writing may be slow but I'm excited about where this is heading. Thank you so much for your comments, even the really short ones really fire me up! **

**So keep reviewing and leaving those comments and telling me your predictions and ideas, they are much appreciated because they do inspire me to continue!**

**So Review, Review!**  
**-Winter Chill**


	46. Ultimatum

**Somehow now that the story is near the end I'm loosing inspiration as I have started putting more and more into Immortal. So we'll see how fast it takes for me to finish the next six phases**

**Phase 44: Ultimatum**

* * *

_Uzumi Zala_  
_Age 13_  
_Language Paper_

_Prompt: Opinion Piece "How is the worlds globalization making commutation and peace more possible?"_

_For the first time. For the last time. As everything has changed so it shall be changed. For the world that we live in now is fragile, like a wave on the sea change comes in swiftly. Nothing is certain, and tomorrow is the biggest mystery we will ever face. How does one even have the strength to fall asleep at night, for it is only out of arrogance that a person could say, "but it shall never happen to me"; for nothing ever happens to only one person. The mistakes of a few can impact the many of the death of many can impact enough to make a difference to what happens next. _

_With so much uncertainty in the world it is like there is some invisible force just barely holding everything together; for one shake in a cycle can cause a ripple effect that can reach into eternity and alter the course of the future in unimaginable ways. For corruption runs rampant, hatred is ever present and the sins of the past still aren't forgotten. We write everything in large volumes of books as warnings to future generations of what the cycle of grief will lead us to but as if no one wants to listen we still continue on in the same way as before stumbling through the darkness searching for a light within it all. I can't even fathom what we would do to any light we came across. For it seems hopeless as humanity pushes away any sense of reason, trying in their arrogance to act as if they can explain every little thing in the world around them. Is there any hope to defeat this? Does anyone really see how far we have strayed from the light that our existence should have been. _

_As I have set out to try and explain myself and I have been asked about globalization but being who I am I can't speak of that without speaking of the atrocities that this has caused. Yes, I do believe that with the connection of all nations there has been more of a chance for us to understand each other and to move and work together toward ultimate peace but I don't believe it is that simple. Everything I have been taught is that we are to live life as best we can, fighting for what is right and preserving and protecting the sacredness that life is for if someone is born into this world they have the right to exist to matter what anyone says about it. We can look at the globalization of the world and see the positives of it but it hasn't changed the truth that humanity is fallen. There is something we must be missing; for the world is nowhere near the way it should be. _

_I think back to the Valentine war, caused by petty feelings of a minority and continued by the elders of the world who believed so strongly that they were right. In fact no one who causes a war believes that they are wrong, they are fighting for something they believe in and I guess that is no different to them than what everyone I know would be willing to fight for. I am not willing to die for hatred and though it would be a frightening adventure I would be willing to die if it were for someone I really cared about and for the preservation of life in this world. For I will repeat myself, life must be sacred for if it is not then none of us have the right to exist. The way people flippantly throw away opportunities makes me wonder if they even realize how many people in the world are suffering._

_I may be ranting now but I am frightened for the course the world is on, and I know I should be quoting expert but think about it who really knows what path we are on? Peace exists in the world now, but as swiftly as it came it can be taken away. For even now on the winds of change there are whispers and uneasy feelings in the air. I may sound like a cynic but I don't believe we can really stop what is coming through our technology; it would have to be by the light of someone who is willing to lay down their life to see change. I write this piece now to ask, are you willing to die to stop the inevitable? Are you strong enough to even stand against the wrong? Or are you a coward who fears the consequences of the world more than anything? I ask you now to please think through what I have said, because just as a single person can cause a ripple effect that could destroy the world, another single person perhaps could make the difference between the life and death of so many. _

_Uzumi Zala_

His name signed twice, his scratch handwriting on the paper. There were so many crossed out words near the beginning as he had tried hard to work out what he had wanted to say but the strength of his ending bore his signature resilience. Cagalli put down the papers and looked up toward the window with tears in her eyes. Uzumi had done as he always said he would, but if he were alive now he would still be prodding people on in this way. He strongly believed that in saving one person he could change the balance of the world and he had chosen in the end to save Meiko. She wondered now about her husbands belief that Uzumi knew more about what was coming; for he had always lived every day as though it was his last and he had tried to make every moment count.

"It's so odd," Cagalli sighed to Athrun who was also in the office, he ha been the one to bring her the essay that one of Uzumi's teachers had given him. He had thought it odd as well, Uzumi showed a wisdom and strength beyond his years at all time, the essay was an echo of his son's voice that he had wished would exist with them. He missed his son so much, and now in this moment when news had come from space; no one else in his family had been lost in fact it had apparently grown. Fear was rising, the way Uzumi had somehow predicted that it would. There was silence as both Cagalli and Athrun struggled with this moment; the last thing they wanted to do was slip back into grief but then again the sorrow over what had happened would never truly leave. They had moved past it but they knew it was always going to be present. Athrun only now looked back shocked about the news that had come from space; Meiko was Kira's daughter and therefore Uzumi's cousin. It was that connection that made Uzumi protect her so fiercely, even when he had no idea. A lesser man would have turned his back on her but Uzumi didn't care what circumstances surrounded her. Now she was free.

"I can only wonder how things have come as far as now," Cagalli spoke up now. "Liene is missing once again, and we can't keep on like this. The longer this war drags out the wearier we will become and as Uzumi says the world is took fragile, especially now. We have to find some way to stop all this before to continues any farther!" Athrun nodded, these were his thoughts as well but he also had a feeling that their chance was coming. It was a strong feeling that had been growing within him but something was coming, a power in the earth was about to break forth and shatter anything in it's path. He wondered now where this new force would lead them.

"We will be vigilant," Athrun said staring off toward the window, the sun was setting and the next day would dawn a new era, he could feel it. Something was stirring as he heard a whisper, that might have been in his head but it was Uzumi's voice.

_"It's going to be alright." _

* * *

She shook her head a rubbed her eyes, yawning from the sleep that had taken her. She was still in the medical center, bandaged up from the wounds she had sustained in the unfortunate battle. She had been careless allowing herself to get shot, but then again her coordination was off since the STING incident; trying to recover lost muscle was the most annoying thing she had to do and now this was another set back. Perhaps she should just stick to mobile suit fighting from now on; while strenuous, the preciseness didn't depend so much on every movement of her body.

She turned her head to see Yaro was still there, sitting in a chair, evidently asleep awaiting her to awaken. She cracked a slight smile at this, he was really no different to her now than he was before, she still cared deeply for his well being and he evidently cared for hers. She wondered how fragile he was now, and if he had really even come close to recovery yet. She longed to protect him from the coming war, but it seemed that she could only do so much. He would no doubt need her just as much as she needed him. He would haunt her if somehow she let him slip away, and she knew that he would feel the same way about her. They would have to watch over each other, for this war was not over yet and she knew what Liene had done was just a setup for what was really coming. ROW had always had a master plan that she did not really understand but she knew that all the signs pointed to their final movements, and whatever they did would be devastating to the world if she didn't stop them in time.

She looked back to Yaro to see him stirring so she sat up stretching her arms, wincing slightly at how sore they felt. She smiled as he woke up and looked a little dazed. A sadness swept over him as he processed everything, all the feelings once again rising to the surface.

"No," Meiko spoke before he could say anything, "you have nothing to be sorry for, for you didn't do anything to cause any of it." Tears filled his eyes as he thought of Mike Shustre and of the words that John Liene had said; they were like poison to his being still eating at him as he fought them off. But now in this moment Meiko's eyes, filled with acceptance and adoration made them seem very distant. Now she knew everything yet it didn't really change a thing and in that he felt joy.

"You're right," Yaro conceded walking across the room and sitting on the bed beside her, she took his hand, "I understand what it is you are saying but it will still take me time to deal with all this, I know you have to understand that." She nodded. She understood it would take him time, but she wanted him to know that through every thing she was going to stand beside him, even if she had to fight off everything herself. She would face death to protect him from the darkness that Liene desired for him to fall into, for Liene had no real power and deserved no power over him. For all they knew, Liene was lying once again; though on that note she doubted it because her mother had not denied it. That brought her back to her mother, and the things that Flay had done wrong.

She had to get past her own parents sins. Perhaps it wasn't so simple as it seemed. Waking to a world where the sins of the people around them could effect them more than their own sins; but then if the older generation couldn't escape their past what hope was there for the younger generation? Meiko believed there was a life coming after death as she had seen Uzumi in the world between, and in that life surely only redemption here on earth could lead her on. But was everything so simple? Couldn't the truth justify anyone? Her actions weren't hew own in many situations, what about people who were backed against the wall?

It seemed now the only way to break the cycle was for everyone together to lay down their ways, their hatred, strife and bitterness. For some people were pulled into the darkness of this life not by their own actions but by the actions of those around them and thus their own actions take on the actions of those around them. A never ending cycle. She believed herself broken free and above it all when Uzumi had declared that her past was erased; surely he would know as he had apparently gained the road to life after dead. But Uzumi had never done anything wrong in his entire life; he was one of those pure souls who lived to help those who were stuck between a life of goodness and a life of evil. It was as if he was born to declare the redemption of others even though he himself did not deserve it he was the one who had lost his life for the sins of those around him. Such sacrifice echoed in the actions of those who knew him; his memory a preserving power in the minds of those who loved him.

But here as Meiko pondered what path she could take, she only saw one that would lead to the death of Liene and though murder was surely a sin; Liene would commit more acts than she would in this one act. Her hands were already stained as were Yaro's, in that they would have to take a stand against evil; they had to stand against the darkness even if they would become the evil they were fighting. For the innocence of the world around them. Meiko tightened her grip around Yaro's hand, he was her ally in this; for it was their cross to bear as the first of the light of the super seed.

He understood what was coming forth from her eyes, a resilience and an offer that he accepted though she did not see that a huge part of that acceptance was what he believed now. He saw her burden for what she would have to become to stop everything and he saw now a reflection of his own destiny. He would fight alongside her but his heart had changed, for he would not allow her to be darkened any longer; he would take it for her and fight for the world stronger than before.

"You know they'll never believe it," Yaro spoke slowly as their minds were connected. A light shined from his eyes bidding her fragile super seed to come. She felt pain rush through her but she welcomed this moment, she needed to master her own seed if she wanted to keep up with him.

"But they will see it," Meiko spoke strongly, "the redemption of the world. Our Redemption." The bargain was struck, Meiko not understanding what Yaro had really committed at the moment nor how far he would go. She stared into his eyes as they glowed together, she wished she could control it like he did but she felt like her mind was suddenly cleared, an effect that was growing stronger with the glow in his eyes. He wasn't sure what was driving him on but he was letting off more and more of the strange power within him, she started deep into his eyes as if she was getting pulled in and within her own eyes a light was shining.

It was then that they both were stirred within their hearts and their lips met crashing once again with emotion and the power that they felt. She felt his grip form around her as she could explain now but she loved him more than anything else in the world; she had never allowed herself to feel before and this day she let all the walls crash. She was no longer afraid, there was no one in heaven or earth that would take him away from her, for she would protect and stand by him and she knew he would do the same for her.

* * *

Explanations of the past had been given to him and the dead of the night was upon them as it seemed everyone in the ship was sleeping yet he was up, working on the power he longed for. Kira Yamato sat in front of his mobile suit staring up at how it looked amazing, it was just getting the last configurations that was killing him now. He kept himself busy now as he tried to think about the events of the past battle and especially what had happened in the mobile suit as they were escaping the explosion. It was unlike anything he had felt before and it had been a protection; he wondered about it now, was it his super seed finally awakening after all these years?

"Still working I see?" Yzak's voice was the one he heard and he turned to see Redemption's pilot approaching where he was. Perhaps Yzak could answer his questions and his growing doubts that they could ever really defeat Liene through strength of arms. If the man never came out on an open field again how were they to find him?

"I have to get this working," Kira responded, "there will be another battle ahead and it's impossible to tell if it will be the last. The power of the Justice just won't be enough if we are to really defeat ROW and end this war; if that's even possible at this point." He sighed looking back toward the screen. There were so many scenarios running through his mind as he thought about his new connection to Meiko, Flay's survival and Yaro's origins. Whatever happened he knew that he cold never fight Yaro; the boy meant to much to him. He wondered now if that was Liene's plan all along, if Liene had let Flay take Yaro so that one day he could turn the boy against those that raised him and cared for him. Kira wondered if that were possible, he had seen so many things to make him doubt Yaro's own control of himself but there was also an influence that Meiko held over him. He wondered if it was love, he had seen Meiko cower away from friendships before but she seemed to bond with Yaro in a deep way.

"Uncertainties at this point are normal," Yzak spoke directly to the issue he knew Kira was dealing with, "but we're faced the enemy before and still come out victorious. No matter what happens I believe that the people of the world will stand together against evil. I also believe that you're becoming stronger now." Kira looked at him and wondered how much he knew on what happened with the Phoenix. A backup system that conquered everything and protected them, possibly activated by his super seed or Meiko's. Whatever it was it was powerful.

"There's been something weighing on my mind outside the recent truths," Kira spoke up now knowing it would haunt him if he asked, "while we were inside the Phoenix, I felt a power within me and I saw a light the color of my eyes. When I looked at Meiko the same thing was happening to her only it was hurting her, it was the super seed I'd seen so many times in her. But what troubles me is when mind activated the ships system changed, and everything became stronger, faster and began to glow."

"And you're wondering what exactly happened," Yzak responded causing Kira to nod. Yzak turned back to Kira's gundam, "it's unknown where the seed originated from, weather within the mind of a more evolved human or an artificial thing place within a select few. I believe and so does Flay that the original seed is a natural factor within everyone, but only manifested in those strong enough to use it. The super seed on the other hand is an artificial tampering within the genes of an individual. Your father tampered with your seed genes using the same kinds of crystals that Liene mined on mars; it is from these crystals that different powers have been unleashed. Now you have passed those genes on to Meiko and perhaps your other children. When we created the Phoenix we used those crystals to create a backup measure we were never able to test, but theoretically we believed it would give a super seeded individual greater strength and control over the machine; that is exactly what appeared to happen when you and Meiko used it. The problem now is Meiko is so fragile within that she can not control the super seed as you will be able to very soon." Kira sighed thinking about it when he remembered something else.

"How did Yaro get the super seed if I am the only one with those genes?" Kira asked, "he's able to control it now almost completely and it's come on so suddenly. When we were fighting Liene's guards he used to so strongly to predict where every bullet was going; and he helped Meiko get through." Yzak nodded, it was an expected question for there was so much that had happened that made it clear that Yaro was becoming stronger than any of them based on his super seed. They wondered if he would be able to surpass as a pilot because of it but with Kira's awakening it was certain he would always be beneath the veteran.

"Yaro was created using a lot of the same technology you were created with," Yzak replied revealing the darkest secret, "Liene used whatever he could to make sure that Yaro would survive and be born just fine; so his genes were tampered with in the same way as yours but Liene was always worried that the super seed would not really come fourth; it had never been seen before until Meiko used it, so it was all just theory until now." So that was how Yaro was a coordinator after all. It suddenly made Kira wonder about his mother, if his father was so twisted and evil his mother should hold the same kindness that had radiated from him when he was so young. Everything didn't make sense, if Yaro was just meant for evil. Liene could not determine his son's destiny any more than Kira could determine it; it was strange and still hard for him to understand why everything happened the way it did. Times like these he thought back to the beginning, to his own doubts concerning existence.

What hope was there in the world if it could be so easily disrupted. Peace was more fragile than a drop of water falling from the sky only to break as soon as it hit an obstacle. Tossed on the wind and absorbed by everything around it.

"What do you think he will do?" Kira asked Yzak, the man seemed to have an understanding of things more than he did; from his time in Redemption Yzak had learned to understand quite a bit of strange things. He had once doubted but he was seeing everything come as it had before. As Milady, Flay had kept the strange company of so called 'prophets' and people whom she believed could help her determine her path. It had led her back to the one place she hadn't wanted to go; back to her past and the people she had so hurt. In the midst of everything there was uncertainty about what would happen to the violet child and the blue child; the two with a strange power and switched Destiny.

"No one can really tell," Yzak responded, "except him. I have a feeling that no matter what we say Yaro's already made up his mind and not even Liene will change that. WE just have to trust that he's made the right decision and hope that he doesn't end up being the one to turn on us."

"You believe someone will?" Kira asked Yzak.

"It is said that perhaps there will be some betrayal," Yzak replied, "I don't know how right they are but I hope for the sake of the world Yaro and Meiko's bond holds him back from being the one. Perhaps because of Meiko once again the world will be safe." For Meiko was the Phoenix, who had tempered the hatred of Yaro and become prey to everyone in the world as she soared in fire to destroy those who would rob the world of peace.

* * *

He stood before his officers, his people; those whom had pledged their loyalty to ROW and to whatever he deemed right in this moment. There were so many things happening around him now, it was uncertain what the future held but he had gathered all his forces, his weapons and his strength to this moment for what could either be their final hour or the beginning of the end of the restoration of the world. Everything he had worked for came down to this message, to earth and to the PLANTs.

"Do it," Liene ordered as the crew had invaded every television and news media station; the whole world would see this moment and shudder with fear.

"Hello world," he said the two words as the green light was given, he was on air, "It's been too long since the beginning of my creation to this moment, too long to tell you what I have wanted to for so long. For you are wondering who I am, but it is very simple, I am you. I am your hatred, your fear, your anger and all your darkest emotions. I am everything that you try so hard to reject but everything that exists within your hearts. You think that you can reject me by your vain devotions but I have fought so long to show you what you vile people are!And at the same time I am the only person in the world who understands what needs to be done to bring about peace; the truth of everything that has to happen for this world to be righted! I am John Liene, the founder of ROW and we will restore the world!" He smiled as he knew the crowds on earth were outraged now.

* * *

"Athrun!" Cagalli exclaimed as the two watched from the TV in the council room of ORB. All the ORB council was standing now in complete shock, Liene had been pushed over the edge by the efforts of Redemption and the Clyne faction, he was making an announcement and for the first time the whole world was seeing their enemy.

"You all may be wondering why I have chosen this moment to reveal myself," Liene continued on, "well it's simple, I feel more confident now than ever before. I am ready to show you all what measures need to be taken at this point in time, for a few days ago my finest base on Mars was attacked by a force led by Lacus Clyne and Redemption. It was then that I realized that it was time for me to move once again, so you can thank them for what is coming!" Athrun gasped, he was truly mad if he thought the world was going to stand for this. Cagalli then also realized Liene was declaring war on the rest of the free world; he was about to engage all forces at once without regard to the risk it posed to him.

* * *

"Get my generals on the line now!" Turnal declared, even though Liene was dancing around what he wanted to say everyone knew what was happening. The NEA was at risk now as well as the rest of the world, Turnal knew that in this moment they would have to be ready for anything.

"He's not going to declare war on everyone?" one of Turnals assistants looked shock.

"Either that or he has nuclear missiles ready to destroy us all now!" Turnal declared, by now he had learned that Liene was psychologically messed up and the things he were doing were clearly acts of a madman. Turnal's statement shocked the office, they had been keeping tabs on ROW but they knew by now that ROW had significant nuclear power that could only be stopped by the invention ORB and created; the invention they had placed in the Dreamer as a counter measure to nuclear power and if Liene was going to attack the NEA would need ORB now. "While you're at it get ORB on the phone, they are for sure seeing this as well."

* * *

"I have made up my mind based on a great many things," Liene continued with his speech, the Clyne faction was watching in space with Meiko standing at the head anger clear in her eyes, "first of all being that I am tired of playing these games with everyone. You are all clearly enemies of what will truly bring peace for there is no great victory without great sacrifice and that is why I do what I do. Second of all I want Meiko Virea, the real pilot of the Phoenix to realize all she missed out on; for she was once an agent of ROW, a rebel who has turned against me based on the folly of Redemption! The third reason I have made up my mind is because I'm tired of watching the despicable human race fight each other, coordinators and naturals; what are we to do with all of you? I have decided the only way bring peace is through the survival of the fittest! I am declaring war on everyone, the entire world; send what forces you will the PLANTs will be the first to go! For in this moment I have decided you are unredeemable and all must die. The only people fit for survival are those who have allied themselves with ROW and the nation of peace. One you are all destroyed I will rule over my followers forever and create a world where there will never again be pain or suffering, hatred or strife! The dream of mankind is about to be created." Liene let out a laugh that made everyone on the Eternal shudder.

They were all completely shocked at what they were hearing, he planned on throwing everything he could at the world, on trying to eradicate the human race. He was truly mad. Yaro felt anger rise within him, this man was not his father in any way; whatever he was he could not do something like this and expect anyone to follow him. Meiko was silent and many wondered what was crossing her mind. Her fists were clenched and her eyes devoid of emotion.

"You can not deny that you are a fallen race," Liene continued, even though he had already driven his point home. "You can't stop yourselves from everything that you are doing, you know this to be true. You are arrogant if you believe you deserve to live after the pain that you inflict upon each other! I am under no such dillusion, I am ready to commit the dark act of murder if that is what it takes. For this world will be destroyed by darkness and and reborn through the fires of war! Stand against me if you dare or join me in my quest to restore mankind. You don't have much time." With that his face disappeared from screens leaving the world in an uproar. Everywhere people were frantic, not knowing exactly how to respond. The PLANTs would be the first place struck according to Liene, but was he truly speaking the truth.

* * *

"He can't do this!" Grastler yelled at the screen, "Who does he think he is, god? He does not have the power nor the right to destroy the lives of so many just because he believes we are wrong!" Cagalli closed her eyes and turned away at the shouting that was occurring in the room. Now was not the time to debate what was happening, now was the time to evoke old alliances, to get ahold of the Clyne faction and to make peace with the PLANTs. They needed to get up there soon.

"Lady Cagalli," she turned as the voices ceased and a messenger entered, "Fredrick Turnal is on the line."

"Get him on screen now," Cagalli responded, he was surely frantic as well. Now was time for alliance more than ever, "and Athrun contact Lacus and Kira, we need to sort everything out now!"

"Greetings Lady Cagalli," Turnal spoke as soon as he saw her and the rest of the ORB council on screen, "and to the ORB council as well. I'll speak first as we know there isn't much time to act. It seems we all have a common enemy now more than ever, the NEA did ally with the PLANTs following the Phoenix entrance and the PLANTs pulling out of ORB. We have our people negotiating with them as we speak, but it seems that the world will have to make a stand there. I am asking and begging ORB's immediate aid to protect the PLANTs against what is coming, if we stop Liene there were can save the world. I am also requesting that you use your connection with the Clyne faction to secure us the aid we need as well. We are going to need everything we can get, and we need to make sure to asses every threat level in the atmosphere. Set up a blockade around earth, there are so many things we need to do and there isn't' much time..."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Cagalli interrupted the frantic leader, he was young and inexperienced in these matters. It was certain that he would be their ally in everything despite his inexperience they needed him. "I will do as you ask. We are allies from this moment forward. We will see this thread resolved and I have already sent out a contact to the Clyne faction as well as to Redemption. We will see this thing through and we will stop them!"

* * *

"He's not that powerful is he?" Leyas asked as it seemed the entire Clyne faction and many Redemption representatives were all in the hangar at the end of the broadcast, "he can't destroy the entire world!" The whole room was in an uproar as people were asking so many questions and wondering about the safety of the world and in the midst of it all one person was completely calm; Meiko was the only one completely calm. Lacus couldn't hear herself think as there were so many voices so she took her step, her authority over the situation.

"Everyone calm down!" Lacus declared yelling loudly. Everyone was silent immediately as no one had expect that from her. Her breathing was coming quickly as she turned to Kira and began to make sense of everything, "we are not to loose our tempers at this point or our hearts! We can not panic but we must remain strong. Prepare to mobilize but remember that we are in the right! Now Kira, Shinn, Flay and Luna we are to contact ORB together immediately, Waltfeld organize our forces and have Amarfi contact our allies. We must speak to Cagalli and Athrun now, but we must be prepared to depart at a moments notice." It was then that Meiko stepped forward.

"Aren't you forgetting," Meiko responded to Lacus, "He's already making his moves, I request that we immediately dispatch a unit to the PLANTs to dislodge Jayley, we have proof she was in ROW and that's all we need. If the PLANT people loose faith in her we can more easily gain their support. Besides that fact I want in on this meeting, I am not a member of your forces but rather a wild card and you need my knowledge of ROW's methods in this instance more than ever." Lacus listened to Meiko's words and heard the truth in what the girl was saying. She had not thought about the information they had stolen from ROW in that last battle; it surely outed Jayley as a member of ROW's elite in the past. In that case they could gain control of the PLANTs. This was something she would have to discuss with Athrun and Cagalli now as well. She nodded in consent to allowing Meiko to join the meeting. The girl did have a point, she did belong in the meeting.

"Very well," Lacus agreed signaling them, "but come now everyone move! We need to be ready." As the groups all hurried about Yaro stared toward the Dreamer, he wondered what he would have to do in the next battle. He knew how far he was willing to go but he didn't know if it would be enough. He clenched his fists and walked quickly down the halls of the base.

* * *

Gryser Cerrian was a hardened man as he heard the declaration of Liene it was exactly what he had expected to play out. Liene had been playing a dangerous game from the beginning and Cerrian knew that Liene thought he had the upper hand at this point. It had been many years before but Cerrian and Liene had once been like brothers, before Liene had gone mad with anger and hatred for the entire world. Now his madness had reached a new level and Cerrian who was behind Jayley's rise in ROW and eventually power in the PLANTs knew that it was his turn to make his moves. He had rescued Gera from ROW and trained her to fight for him and he had made Jayley a loyal member but now her usefulness was coming to an end as a new era was dawning.

"Sir," the man behind him was a captain and a pawn, nothing more, "we have everything we need ready." Cerrian nodded.

"I must get a transmission out immediately," Cerrian said, "for we are getting close to the next stage. We can't let ROW win this one but we will have check mate very soon. dispatch our agents to the PLANTs, we need to make sure that we are ready for the Clyne factions certain stunts." He smiled as he knew everything would work out.

"They are playing into our hands," Cerrian spoke out to space, "soon the world will reach the next stage of peace but Liene will not be involved in that. No, we must make sure we are ready to apprehend Leyas Yamato, she'll be influential in all this; I am almost certain."

"But to defeat ROW?" the man asked.

"Yaro is the final piece in the game," Cerrian said with a smile, "for he will prove very useful. Make sure everything is in order." Yes, the Clyne faction would prove useful now as there were so many in the world seeking their Redemption. Lacus Clyne would once again save the world and this time she would deliver it to one who would protect it, for he would not allow the next peace to be broken by anything even if he had to change everything.

* * *

They sat before Athrun, Cagalli, Murrue Ramuis, Mu Laflaga and a few ORB representatives on one side of the screen. They were the elite of the world, those who had been granted the power to change this. Did they deserve this power? It was not up to them to decide, they were only given the decision on how best to use what they had now. They could either let Liene win or fight him to the last breath. Kira Yamato, Lacus Clyne, Shinn Auska and Lunamaria Hawke had come to this long ago and now Flay Alster, Yzak Joule and Meiko Virea joined them in this effort to make a final stand against the evils of ROW.

"We are mobilizing immediately," Cagalli spoke first outlining the details of what ORB was planning, "the NEA had called for our aid and the aid of any ally of the free world, they have asked me specifically to beg your assistance. They are sure ROW will strike from space based on intelligence from the PLANTs and the images from satellites that have spied at ROW forces movements on earth. It seems many of them have blasted into the atmosphere and are meeting somewhere in space. Our space fleet is moving toward meeting up with the NEA now and we are sending reserve forces that are rallying now. Athrun will board the Minerva and head up, I am staying down here once agains to deal with the politics. The NEA council has requested that all free nations send representatives to meet on earth to plan for evacuation in case our last stand fails." Everyone took a sharp breath at the last words. Evacuation of an entire planet was too heavy of something to deal with, they had nowhere else to go but the PLANTs and that was if the PLANTs were still there and could remain sustainable on their own.

"We pledge the Clyne factions assistance," Lacus spoke up.

"And I pledge Redemption," Flay followed. Meiko took a breath and looked down thinking of the gravity of everything. The whole world was uniting in a final stand against the threat of ORB, what would this lead to? Could it be that a new era was dawning, where peace could come to pass because they were able to stand together or would it all fragment once this was over?

"I will stand with you," Meiko spoke finally as a single entity outside of all military forces, she could not be controlled by any of them and they all knew this. Still they relied on her knowledge of ROW in this instance and now she would give it, "ROW will strike in space, they will meet whatever forces you send." She spoke with assurance for she knew this, "but he won't let you choose the site of the battle, for he will strike the PLANTs first; there will be nowhere for you to evacuate if we fail. We must meet him there, I know it seems crazy but I know Liene, he has always hated the strife that coordinators existence brought, he never blamed it on them but he knew that without them that strife wouldn't exist. So trust me when I say we will meet him there.

"I will get the message to the NEA," Cagalli responded as Murrue immediately stood up and left at her beckoning to deliver that message, "then we must now determine a meeting point of our forces, the NEA has assured us the PLANTs will not treat us with hostility but we can't trust Jayley. It's better if we all approach together." Lacus nodded.

"Right then we should meet the coordinates I am sending you now," Lacus would not speak them out loud, but send them in a coded message so no one would know, "We will be sending everything we have, everything." Meiko listened as the discussing went on taking it in, breathing and letting the ideas of everything fill her mind and heart. This was the first time that a strong stand would be made against these enemies. She wondered exactly what would happen and how Liene would react.

"If the forces are defeated…" those words from Mu Lafalga woke Meiko out of her own train of thought and back into what was being spoke as anger rose up within her.

"It won't matter if the forces are defeated," Meiko spoke out angrily, "it's all over if we fail here, don't you see that? The world you know is so fragile that if we let ROW win this final battle we let them win the war, no matter what you think about how people will react we are the strongest resistance left! It doesn't matter anymore, all rules are our. We are talking the protection of every nation in the entire world. You people have your rules about fighting, not using nuclear missiles but you have no problem with strapping nuclear power to mobile suits. You think if you don't kill the enemy your somehow better, that not all people are evil which is probably true. You're going to try to speak to their heart and their reason but the truth is that will do absolutely nothing for you at this point. The people that are in ROW are so deceived that they are unsaveable and you can not stop this through your words. I say hang the damn rules, take up arms and fight with everything you have for the sake of a tomorrow we can all believe in!" The stared shocked as she shook from the anger rising within her, it was time to stop playing games, it was time to take a stand.

"None of us will be here after this if we fail, so failure fan not be an option," Meiko continued calmer now, "We must do what we can, all the power we have, every weapon we've ever created to fight ROW for they will show us no mercy. Please listen to me, your tactics have continually allowed ROW the upper hand because they are not blinded by the same sentiments. We are fighting to stop them and if it takes killing them that is what we are going to have to do." She felt her anger still within her as they all seemed to understand what it was she said.

"I just wish there was another way," Lacus let the words escape her, "somehow."

"Don't we all?" Meiko asked, "but really ask yourselves, could things have been different if you had fought ROW just a little stronger when the STING attacked?" They then all wondered, what would have happened if they had killed Liene back then, Kira remembered he had the chance before; on the cliffs in ORB where his own cowardice had caused him to back down on that chance. He knew now he could not back down and he saw the determination in Meiko's eyes and felt it rise up within him.

"It is the world we fight for," Kira responded, "and we will do what it takes!"

* * *

She felt something change as her eyes opened to find her hands empty, she glanced around the room it was dark but she could see where he was standing. He must have gotten up and that was what woke her. Meiko rubbed her eyes trying to better see him; Yaro's posture was one of confusion and something she had not expected to see. After the meeting with ORB the ships had loaded quickly and headed out toward the point where they were going to meet ORB. The whole ship was resting now and she and Yaro had been talking in his room until they fell asleep. She saw there was a heaviness on him and she knew just by being there she was a help to him as he was a help to her. She sat up and stretched her arms he turned to her aware now that she was awake.

"You should rest," Yaro said in response to seeing her awake, "I know your strong but still you did get pretty beat up a few days ago." She smiled at this, she was feeling fine, much better than before. His concern touched her.

"So did you," She responded, "besides we are fine now, there is peace for at least this night; we should take advantage of that. Everything is moving faster and faster again and the end of everything is almost near. Nothing is certain and we need to take advantage of everything we still have." Yaro heard her words and thought through the events of the past year, everything that had brought them to this moment and all the doubt and pain. He would have never predicted that he would be here with someone he cared about this much, especially someone he had once vowed to destroy. In the moment she was taken from his life he had wished he could go back to the day they met, the moment he knew there was something different about her. They had first bonded taking shelter from the rain under a bridge on ORB, both were alone and both found comfort in the words of the other. Everything was much simpler back then before the world tried to take them down and change everything around them. He wondered if they could ever get that peace back. Though she believed everything was almost over he felt as though things had just begun. The war in the world had just begun for now everyone was involved.

"Who's to say this will be the end?" Yaro replied, "for my father is relentless, and if we fail it is certain the world will fall but if we win it's not certain everything will return to how it was. It's not even certain that things will get better. There are nations out there that were completely destroyed by ROW; if ROW falls those nations will fall further into anarchy and wars will continue. It can be so close to over but not quite." Meiko felt the heaviness in his voice and wondered what had led him to this train of thought, she also noticed how he called Liene his father; a clear sign he had accepted it as true. He walked over and laid back beside her, she wrapped her arms around him as he was still. She laid her head on his chest thinking about what he said and realizing what she believed.

"No," Meiko whispered, "it's over when we say it's over. No one is saying we forever have to live this life, now's the time to take a stand. We're strong enough together to make sure that doesn't happen."

"We've failed in the past," he said, "but I promise you right now I won't let it happen again. I won't let anything hurt you ever again Meiko, I promise you that I will destroy ROW not just for you but for myself and for the world." He took her hand in his. She heard her own burden in his voice for she had made the same vow so many times; she had promised herself she would bring Liene in or kill him and she had failed on both accounts. He was always a step ahead of her but now she knew he was loosing his mind and now she wasn't the only one after him. The world wanted Liene dead and worst of all Yaro had a mind toward vengeance for all Liene had done.

"I've vowed this as well," Meiko responded, "and though I've been the biggest failure of is all I won't let any weaknesses stand in our way." She let him go and looked into his eyes, "I used to not let myself feel because everything was always taken from me but today I feel for you and for the first time I can say to someone; I say to you, I love you Yaro." He heard the words wash over him, words he had once spoken to her to get no response, today he got his response; after so much time had past and he knew she meant every word of what she said. He saw these words were harder for her to say because of how long she lived not wanting to feel vulnerable in any way and with these words she opened herself up to him, to the possibility of hurt. She sat up with a pure smile on her face, "I love you and nothing is going to change that." There was something so pure and innocent about her voice as she spoke, the past darkness had truly been erased from her in this moment and he saw within her the person he had always known was there. His heart was hers.

"I love you," he responded as he reached a hand up to caress her face. She closed her eyes reaching a her hands to catch his as it left her and she brought it back to her and kissed it. She looked up into his eyes with a light and a joy that seemed odd with the world crashing around them, she had found a home. She had grown in a world where no one cared for her but even though the dark storm raged around them she knew that she could count on the people she loved to be there and she would be there for them as well. Uzumi had given her life and that life was greater than anything she had ever realized before. She saw in Yaro's eyes the light that had been there when she first met him, she had waited for this long to see it and once again it appeared.

She leaned up to him and kissed him and he kissed her back closing his eyes and pulling her closer. He didn't care what they tried to say out there in the world, what Liene had to say, Meiko didn't care and she loved him just the same. Perhaps it was possible for everything to change but some twist of fate perhaps they could turn the whole world around, in this moment she made him believe they could do anything together. Even face the darkest depths of the war.

* * *

Leyas Yamato had never been known for her bravery nor for her strengths, as the daughter of Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne she had been for a time much overshadowed by her brothers and her little sister but it wasn't always that way. Now that the world was being pushed to the edge of darkness Leyas was given a rare chance to think in silence as no one paid her mind, no one except Trey of course. She wondered what exactly was going on with the people out there and how those in her home were reacting. She had once had many friends in the PLANTs and she had been their princess superstar. It was her home, and when she was removed from it she felt a part of herself fade. She didn't understand it but she always felt a voice calling her to return there, and though the time away had been long and hard she knew she would get her chance soon.

She closed her eyes and breathed in, she was very much like her father in her stubborn determined will and her sense of right and wrong. She was ready now to take matters into her own hands, she did not care what the people around her thought because she was going to do this for them. She was tried of being the last one thought of when it came to battle, tired of standing in the background of everything; now was the moment she had decided that she had a chance to make a difference and turn a tide.

The days ahead Leyas knew there were those who still believed in her that remained in the PLANTs. She would turn to them now and be their saving grace. Trey stood beside her as she stood before the one woman who would understand, the woman who had defied the odds to live and turn the whole world around; Milady Redemption, Flay Allster would understand.

"I want my birthright back," Leyas declared, "I want my place in this world, I'm done standing in the shadows, crying on the shores of ORB and waiting around for other people to work miracles. I need you to agree with me please, I know my parents would say I was wrong, that everything I was doing now matters. They would tell me that I didn't need to venture forth in this but I know so much now. Give me the information I need, the proofs and I promise you that I will deliver results. I will bring Jayley Lired to the justice of the PLANTs and I will reclaim my place." Leyas's voice was so determined that no one could doubt that she would do what she said she would or die.

"I am sure you can do this," Flay responded seeing part of Kira in Leyas's eyes, "the question now is what exactly is your plan? You're strong Leyas, no one doubts that but this task will be dangerous no matter what happens out there."

"I will stand with her," Trey responded, "fight with her, make sure she gets in. She won't be alone out there even though I am sure that would not stop her." Leyas smiled as he spoke. It was true she was going to come to depend on him, for his strengths were a part of her plan. She never went into something without knowing what she was getting herself into.

"Trust me," Leyas said, "I said that I will deliver, how I do it matters not; the less you all know the better. I don't want anyone trying to stop me." Flay nodded understanding the girl. Though she still wondered what Leyas had planned she knew she would have to give up the information they had collected in ROW's base to this girl through sheer conviction. If there was any chance Leyas could do this Flay did not want to doubt her, now was not the time to make errors and she had seen in the past that giving someone no options in fighting often led to disastrous results.

"Then you have whatever it is you need," Flay responded, "And Yzak will protect you as well if it's needed, whatever we can do to help Redemption is your ally in this Leyas." The girl smiled as she ran through everything in her head. She wasn't going to fail this one, it was the least she could do to end this.

* * *

**So new Chapter! YES!  
**

**Please review and let me know what you think about it all, and the developments that are taking place and the things that are to come because there is going to be quite a bit more. I think the next chapter is another low key one before the battle, which will break out soon after that and that's going to be as action packed and crazy as I can make it.**

**So yes review!  
-WinterChill  
**


	47. The Crossroads

**Phase 45: The Crossroads**

**Redemption.**

**Time has flown by quickly.**

**Meiko Virea was once the enemy, now she is a hope.**

**John Liene has declared war on the world and battle lines have been drawn.**

**Now enemies must unite for the tale nears an end.**

**Meiko and Yaro side by side, fighting for the world.**

* * *

She had never awoken more tired nor more fulfilled in her life, her mind completely blank as she couldn't get past the warmth in her heart to even pay attention to the pain she still felt in her veins. She rolled her head to see Yaro still asleep and she turned toward him wrapping her arms around him and laying her head on his chest, he stirred slightly and his eyes opened. He smiled at her closeness, he knew that they would have to face the world soon as he wrapped an arm around her and sat up.

"Not yet," she moaned with a yawn so he leaned back again. She wanted them to stay like this forever, not to face the world out there but she knew they couldn't hold onto this moment for too much longer. The ship seemed to be slowing which meant they had met up with the forces and sooner than later someone would come looking for them. They were on the edge of a huge battle and neither of them knew what the outcome was going to be, this might be the last quite moment they would ever have together in their lives or it could be one of many more to come. She sighed just holding onto him, she sill felt weary as if she could do with more sleep, which was probably true.

"You know we have to get up soon," Yaro said with a slight laugh, she seemed determined not to move for a while longer. The council would be held if they had indeed reached the rendezvous point and in that case Meiko would need to attend.

"I know," she responded with a slight whine, "just a minute longer. I want to remember this forever." He smiled as she wrapped her fingers in his and he nodded, he wanted to remember this forever as well. Neither of them wanted to see anything else now but each other, so they blocked out the world and everything they knew they would have to face; fighting back the fears and doubts in their mind and focusing on the love they shared. They knew it couldn't last much longer for they both had a responsibility to the world, he by his strong super seed power and her by her skill in a mobile suit

* * *

"Athrun, it's good to see you again," Lacus said with a smile as the ORB representatives entered the Eternal's meeting room, the Redemption officials were there as well for this meeting. They would have to make sure they had their strategies all together, even though they had no idea exactly what they were up against. Each group had a full list of the power they had control of and each of them knew that they would all play a part in what was to come.

"I wish it was under different circumstances," Athrun sighed as they all thought about the situation they were in. In the hours they had spent racing here it seemed the ROW forces still had not been sighted but they all had a feeling the attack could come anywhere and at any second. They talked amongst themselves all nervous and all unready for this moment. They had taken the trip to this location as preparation but how could one really prepare to realize that they were about to fight for their lives against power they were not sure was limited. ROW had apparently debuted new mobile suits and weapons in the nations were the wars were being fought, the news had traveled to each of the groups through different channels. So ROW had been making advancements, unchecked and without restraint. Thinking of this in the midst of the small talk Athrun began to wonder what they were waiting for, the meeting should have begun.

"We're waiting on Meiko," Kira answered knowing what Athrun was thinking by the annoyed distressed look on his brother in laws face, "she's a huge part of this as one of our main links to ROW and she said she'll help us in any way she can; she practically commanded Lacus not to make a move without consulting her." Athrun shook his head with a smile.

"It's hard to believe that such a fiery little girl is your daughter when you're so reserved and calm," Athrun responded to that and Kira shook his head, he had thought of that but there were multiple sides to Meiko. He had seen her fiery and ready to fight, angry and then he had seen her in her lowly mind where she was herself completely outside of the influence of circumstances and she was a lot like him in this place with very few words and whole lot of heart to everything she did. She was very influenced by circumstances that made her a hardened warrior but he still saw himself in her eyes in quieter moments.

"She's not really spoken to me since we found everything out," Kira sighed, "so many things have happened none of us have had much of a chance to confront the new family arrangements. Then she has completely disappeared for the most part since then, unless we are in a military meeting." Kira shook his head wondering what he was going to do about it.

"How has Yaro taken his parentage?" Athrun asked, he had been very concerned when he had heard the truth about Yaro because he knew what it was like to be the son of a man who was so deceived that he fought for all the wrong reasons. Athrun wondered at first if Yaro was going to be alright and he remembered that it was hard but it wasn't unbearable to get through plus Yaro would have tremendous support. The important thing was that Yaro realize he was not his father and he was not destined to go down the same path as that evil man.

"Come to think if it," Kira responded wrinkling his brow as he made a connection, "I haven't really seen him either." At that moment the double doors flew open as her hands slammed into them and Meiko stepped in, dressed out in the assassins uniform she had put together while in Redemption; black leather and weapons was what one observed at first as her long red hair cascaded down her back and her violet eyes glowed with determination.

"No need to wait any longer on my account," she said with an attitude as she walked toward the seat beside Lacus but remained standing, "let this begin, I know very many of you know who I am but there are some of you who are wondering what I am doing here and why I am a part of this." She breathed in with a smile as she faced them," you know me by the name of Meiko Virea, but you don't understand what that is. I think it's important now that you know the truth about who I am before we go any further with this. When I was born the circumstances were less than ideal, unknown to anyone but my mother and one other person I am the daughter of Kira Yamato a man who I only met a matter of months ago. But since I was born and abandoned in the world I ended up in a bad place, I am an ex-ROW agent and if you choose not to trust me after that revelation that is up to you but hear this I hate ROW with everything that is within me, they stole my identity from me for 18 years and I want them to pay for that more than any one else in this room as well as all the other things I witnessed while I was there." At this point everyone in the room was murmuring amongst themselves and she saw that Kira was shaking his head at her, she was making a show of herself and expecting everyone to trust her. He knew that the ORB representatives at least would blame her for Uzumi's death, but they had to realize who she was.

"Now to my new identity," Meiko spoke her words with confidence, "I am no longer effected by ROW except for my hatred, I am here to fight alongside you as I have been for awhile now as the Phoenix," there were more murmurs at the mention of that name, "for I lived and survived a great many things to be here today and nothing is going to change what I want and who I am now. I am sorry to say that I take orders from no one but I do fight beside you and at this point I know what is going on more than you do. I have seen so many things now that I am here," she thought through her mind now connecting many of the visions she saw of ROW while under the influence of the super seed. Combined with what she knew of ROW things were beginning to make sense.

"Be prepared to face ROW at it's worst, all rules out; fight with all your might and kill everything in your path," she declared, "for they have nuclear weapons you haven't even dreamed of yet. I remember what it was like to listen to them, I was such a scared little idiot but they have been planning this for a very long time and they will strike the PLANTs first, mark my words they want us all there but they won't be expecting what we have with us. That is the hope and strength that we have here in this room, for we have all faced the darkest of storms and come out of it alive. I know I've heard stories about most everyone of you and don't you think for a moment ROW doesn't fear that somehow we could be powerful enough to tip the scales and destroy them once and for all because it's what they talked about all the time. I mean Lacus they had you thrown out of the PLANTs for fear of you and ORB they tried to destroy you with the STING before now; then there are all you in Redemption, cause they were afraid to utter your name for fear of a curse upon them. We have everything to fear and at the same time nothing at all, we are strong enough to face this, let's stand up for what we believe in and fight for justice, it's what Uzumi wanted and it's what we will gain."

Everyone in the room clapped but they were all in awe of the things they had just heard come out of this girls mouth, Kira included. He had seen Meiko change so much as if before his eyes, he thought back to the first time he saw her and the brokenness she held on her as it was all she could do to keep from breaking. She had refused his offer of freedom and he knew why, because she didn't want anyone else to die because of her; he had hated not being able to help her then and he didn't understand why he wanted so badly to protect her even though he only saw her life as tragedy. Now he saw her before them all as such a different person, no doubt in her eyes only confidence and strength as she smiled for real. Everything had made her stronger and more amazing and he hoped that nothing would dash her now, because even though she spoke strength, the future looked grim.

* * *

Kiran typed quickly as he wondered what exactly was going on in the meeting between the nations. He sat in the hangar on his computer, Yaro was doing tune ups to the Dreamer with some of the technicians and Leyas and Trey were being chaperoned by a couple of Redemption guards as they seemed to be planning something together very secretively. He sighed at them, Lacus and Kira had been getting on them still but he wondered how long that would fly with the war, it was just getting to busy to deal with them all the time.

"Kid!" he nearly jumped at the loud voice so close as he realized whoever it was, had been talking to him and he turned to glare at them for calling him kid when he realized who it was.

"Ceveris!" he declared standing up with excitement, he had missed the older pilot who had been something of a mentor to him down on earth when the minerva had gone missing. Ceveris had taught him more about mobile suits than his own father, not that Kira had gotten much time with all the craziness around them to help his son. Ceveris laughed at Kiran's face as it went from shock to anger to excitement all at once.

"You didn't think that I would just stay on earth as Mey took the Minerva to space to fight off the end of the world would I?" Ceveris asked with a laugh and Kiran realized he had a good point, Kiran had just never really thought twice about what was going to happen with the upcoming battle. He had never equated the idea of everyone coming back together again and he hadn't through twice about the Minerva's return even though he knew Ceveris and Meyrin were together once again. He smiled at the thought of it all, for the first time in history it seemed like the entire world was really ready to unite for this purpose of destroying ROW, this time there were no lies behind it all and no false ideas among them all as everyone was tired of the darkness and ready to change everything.

"Kiran!" he heard his name again as Meyrin approached, "It seems you've been given the option of boarding the Minerva again for the coming battle, we'd be happy to have you with us again." She smiled as she talked though behind her eyes she looked tired.

"I would love to join up with you all again!" he exclaimed as his mind turned to Alicesia he wondered about her; if the ORB military was here she must have been as well. He turned to Meyrin to question. Meyrin saw the question in his eyes before he asked, there was a deep friendship between him and Alicesia and they had been separated for what seemed like forever now.

"No," Meyrin said, "Alicesia is not among the ORB forces. Her father had her discharged from the military and she was sent home, it seems the family was leaving ORB for a nation within the NEA. He was frightened by the message from Liene and decided the NEA would protect his family better. She told me to tell you that after this was over she would find a way back to ORB and find you but I have no idea where she went nor how long till we will see her again." Kiran's heart sank at the news that he had just heard, his best friend was gone somewhere and he had no idea where or if he ever would see her again. He looked down for a second before gathering himself, he would have to take his courage and fight the next battle with it at the forefront of his mind. For she clearly had hope that it would all end, if she said she would return when it was over she really believed that the world would be safe and better when it was over. She believed in him and in everyone else so he would not let her down. He nodded to Meyrin.

"Well we will just have to make sure when this is over that we search for her as well," Kiran responded thinking through it all, "she was part of our struggle to return to ORB, she is our comrade and my best friend. So we have to win, I know we can do it." Meyrin smiled, Kiran really was everything good about his parents, he was strong enough to fight in the next battle. He possessed so much strength, Meyrin hoped that his other siblings had the same strength. For what she had witnessed with the others is that they were taking the war much harder than he was.

* * *

Jayley Lired held her breath as her captains stood around her. The PLANT council seemed angry at the report and she was being rightfully blamed for what was coming. She couldn't crack a smile as she hoped her leader was right about the out come of this battle. She gulped as the report was confirmed by security footage, their scouts had found the ROW fleet and it was larger than expected, much larger. The scouts had also all been killed before they could broadcast everything. They seemed frightened of ROWs weapons and now she was frightened of what might happen in this battle, all her carefully laid plans were crashing before her. She had always thought ROW would strike earth first and give her more time but now time had run out. They would be here soon.

"Are you sure that they are heading in this direction?" Jayley asked one of the officers.

"Yes," the man said with a hint of anger in his eyes, "and we have sent a message to the NEA, they are bringing ORB and the Clyne faction with them miss. We can't afford to see them as enemies anymore." This made Jayely more angry.

"They are as much our enemies as ROW is!" she declared thinking it through. Lacus Clyne had caused everything. What she had done in allowing the Gibraltar incident had caused the death of Jayley's parents, and before that Lacus had stopped the Destiny plan that would have brought peace. Jayley had grown up with a hatred of Lacus and of ORB, she couldn't drop it for this battle, no she would order the PLANT soldiers to continue to regard the Clyne faction and ORB as the enemies they were and always would be.

"We need their alliance," another council member said, "the people are in a state of panic and at this point they are also ROW's enemies. The enemies of our enemies are our friends and we must regard them as such." It was after the member had spoken that an alert sounded in the building and in the entire plants. Everyone drew in breath quickly as their hearts started pounding.

"It's begun!" Jayley declared rushing from the room with some of her guards, "defend the plants!"

* * *

John Liene smiled as his first wave of ships reported successfully engaging the ZAFT lines. There were no signs of the other enemies but he knew it was only a matter of time before they arrived, soon everything would be revealed. He needed to speak to Meiko Virea one last time, there was one more piece to the puzzle to be placed in her mind, for he had been fighting for so long for this moment. He had sold his soul away in the name of changing the world and making it a better place, many only saw the evil he had done in destroying so much but it was necessary. It has to all end here today, Gryser Cerrian would see everything change.

"Make sure we don't inflict too much damage to the PLANTs yet," Liene said signaling his flags, "we need to located Cerrian, then when we have found him destroy the PLANT he dwells in; if he cannot be found to a certain point we will destroy them all." He smiled evilly, Meiko was destined for this but she had fallen out of cooperation a long time before, if he couldn't get to her he would have to do it all himself with the technology he had created he could recreate the world.

"Urgent news, the PLANTs are under attack," It was Leyas's voice broadcasting to everyone within the area. Meiko stood up from where she was and walked toward the screen in the hangar that changed to show current live footage from the battle, it appeared ROW was only sending an advanced fleet while a large and terrifying force waited behind them. Liene knew that the battle had only just begun and that everyone else would join soon so of course he was hanging back and waiting for them. She breathed in sharply and turned suddenly to face everyone there, her heart started pounding as the reality of everything started playing through her mind, this shouldn't be so shocking but she knew now that there was no escaping it. As soon as they were out there everything was on the line and she viewed her life as forfeit. As far as she saw her own life was about to end, but not without victory.

She saw Yaro out of the corner of her eyes and turned to find herself wrapped in his arms as she focused on what was real around her. He let go of her and she looked up at him gratefully and then she turned to see her mother nearby as well.

"This is it," Meiko said to the woman who had forever watched over her from afar, "everything you waited for and there is no turning back now. You've put your life into this mother, to ending everything ROW had ever done; now I want to know is there any bit of you that regrets that? Is there anything you would take back from the years in redemption?" Flay did not expect the question but looking at her daughter she knew exactly what she would take back.

"I wish with everything within me I had been able to find you sooner," Flay responded, "that I could have stopped your destiny and kept you as far away from battle as possible; I wish with all my heart that I could undo everything you ever went through and prevent you from fighting now." It was as Meiko had suspected, the hesitation in her mothers eyes was because Flay couldn't stand the resolve that she saw in Meiko. What Flay saw was the resolve of a warrior that would most certainly lead do a painful and emotional battle; there was so much on the line now, more than just Meiko but somehow Flay couldn't see past her own child. Everything was destiny now, and Meiko's was changing before her eyes, what came next would determine so much more.

"But I am fighting for everything I believe in," Meiko said, "what you have done is prevented me from fighting on ROWs side and dying for something worthless. Whatever regrets you have about not saving me sooner, I am glad you saved me at all because without you to save me I would either be dead or I would be responsible for the deaths of so many more." Meiko breathed in and said her next words, "no more regrets Flay Alster, the past is gone and at this stage in the game regrets will kill you."

"I know," Flay responded turning away, "and I'll let them go before we get there, just let me hang on for another moment or two." She then walked out of the hanger leaving them and Meiko reached her hand to take Yaro's, not bothering to speak as he knew all her fears as well as his own. They were both more resolved than ever to do the impossible, to stop Liene's weapons and win the field.

"Not long now," Yaro finally spoke turning back to the screen at the battle before them, it was clear the PLANTs were completely out matched, "not long now." —-

"We have received coordinates and orders from the NEA," Cagalli spoke loudly to Lacus Clyne, "you must move the troops and prepare to attack within the next few hours." Lacus nodded and turned to Kira.

"Give the orders," she said, "make sure they are fully aware of what we are walking into, send the readouts of strength to each ship and then Kira make sure Meiko see's them. We're getting ready to take the worlds greatest enemy head on, and Meiko's our best chance; perhaps her knowledge of ROW can provide some measures of weaknesses." Kira nodded about to leave when he turned back to see the distress on Lacus's face, the strain of commanding everything was getting to her and she would need to relax until the battle started.

"Hey," Kira floated to her and embraced her, "it's alright Lacus," He held her close as tears started coming from her eyes, "we're going to get out of this like always. I'm here for you." He then let go of her and she smiled, he always knew when she needed him to be there and he was always there.

"I know Kira," she responded, "this is the end of everything, we're going to win this time and we're going to end this, it's just a lot to think about. We've come so far and we're about to come to the end. So much could happen out there, and I know I'm not supposed to think about it but sometimes I just slip a little. We're all going to make it through this one, we are on the side of right." He smiled at her words as determination filled her voice, sometimes she just needed to remind herself what exactly was going on around her. She was one of the strongest people he knew and what he saw in her was the same determination that had gotten her through so many tough situations, and so many near death experiences.

"That's more like it," Kira responded kissing her softly then hugging her once again, "I'll be right there beside you through everything. This is our chance to show the world once again that we are not going to back down.

The ships moved out an hour later. ORB, Redemption and the Clyne faction all together preparing for the battle to come, they had a few more hours before they would make it there. Lacus sat on the bridge of the Eternal looking at the faces of those who were there and realizing how blessed she was to have some of the best people around her now. These were truly the worlds bravest and strongest now fighting alongside each other to protect all the innocent lives that could die from this battle and to look to a brighter future.

* * *

He walked down the halls thinking about what was about to take place. They were moving out into a battle and their army was pretty much led by Meiko who was his daughter. She seemed to be hiding from that fact since discovering it but he knew that he had ton confront it soon; he didn't want to wait until the battle was over for so many things could happen before them. This could be their last chance to really talk it over. He had asked around to where she was and he had finally found her in a lone hangar on the Eternal where no one else was; she stood alone staring up at the Phoenix, the mobile suit that had changed her life and the lives of everyone around her.

The way she stood was different that he had ever seen her, it was almost weaker and more submitted to something that he knew he would never understand no matter how had he tried. She was his daughter but the way she was raised was so different than it should have been, the fear that she had lived under was so much more painful than he could ever imagine.

He took a step and she turned softly to see him there, her expression was unreadable as he knew that his gave his entire thoughts away. Her eyes were his own, something he should have noticed before everything changed around them; she was always somehow connected to him and he had overlooked everything. She was his flesh and blood, his eldest child; his daughter. He would have never predicted that through some twist of fate, he would be unable to ever really be an influence in her life; that she would grow up hardened enough to never need him but so much of him wanted to show her that he was her father and that as her father he would be there for her every step of the way. The problem now was there were not very many more steps in life for any of them to take if everything ended today. It was all crashing down around them and they were fighting to hold it all together, and they would all fight to their last breath if that is what it took. Like Meiko, he was resolved and he would protect those he cared about even if it meant forfeiting his own life.

"Meiko," he spoke first taking another step forward and her gaze stooped him as for a moment the blankness of her expression slipped and her hands that were always held in fists loosened. She knew why he was there.

"You're my father," she said before he could say anything else, "we know that for certain now, is that what you want to say? Because I know it makes a huge difference in how you see me because it makes a huge difference in how I see you." It was exactly what he felt now. She was looking now at the man who was her father, something she had never dreamed possible as a child and he was everything that was good and right in the world. He was the white knight of truth and strength who had saved the world many times before, and to his light she was a darkness, so very different.

"You've been through so much Meiko," he spoke no freely since he knew she understood everything, "things that never should have happened but it's way too late to change it all. I know that I was too late, I should have seen it so long before this but it is why I always felt as though I had to protect you…" She interrupted him now.

"I understand," she responded her mask falling off completely now, "I should have seen it before as well because somehow I always felt safest when you were there. When I was in ROW and when you offered me a way out it was like I felt that just by your very words I would be safe, I didn't think I deserved it then but in my darkest hour I knew I could always count on you more than anyone. When I needed someone back then I turned to you not just because you were the strongest but because I somehow felt you would always understand." He nodded.

"And I protected you so much because of that connection," he spoke truly, "and if things had been different… It's too late for that but it's not too late for so much more. Who's to say we won't all make it out of this?" She felt hope in his words and knew that it was this hope that had always brought the world through in the end, the light of Kira Yamato had always brought them through, "Who's to say that there is no life after this? I believe that we are all going to make it, that we are going to survive against the odds Meiko and when we do I want you to know that you always have a home with your family. You have family now and I don't ever want you to feel alone in the world again." A smile lit up her face and she felt a peace come over her, he was talking the way he should now, speaking of the hope they had and giving her a way to live. The reality was all there for her to see now, she had more than one option in the end, she had her mother's life and her fathers life to choose from.

"I'm different from the rest of you," she responded, "but I understand what you are saying now. Keep that strength Father," she spoke the title that he had over her, "for I believe in your light, we can get through this." She looked down for a second then spoke to him again, "and I will be getting to know you all much better after that." That was what he wanted, for her to become a part of his life, to bring his daughter home the way he should have eighteen years before.

They talked for awhile after that, each sharing about themselves looking to what they had at this moment. The hope of Kira Yamato filled Meiko Virea in this moment, because he wasn't giving up she realized she shouldn't. She had resigned herself to death and suddenly it changed, her and Yaro had to make it out of this now, for the future of the world and for a brighter tomorrow. She knew how he would fight, protecting lives despite what she said. It was who he was, nothing she said would change that but she also knew that she would probably follow some of his patterns while leaving behind a lot of it.

He didn't see the past anymore and he realized there was no time to waste in regret. He was proud of what Meiko had become, of the strength and resolve she displayed in the face of an impossible battle. Unlike Flay he saw the destiny in her as a blessing that he knew would bring her into the light in the end; he saw past her to the world in her eyes and the hope that she was offering everyone. That hope was everything now; they shared it and it brought them closer. Father and daughter as they always should have been. They were finally at the end of Liene's madness and neither of them would falter, for now it was time for them to shine brighter than ever before.

* * *

Leyas Yamato stood apart from a group of Redemption officers who were speaking to Yzak Joule, he was less sure about what he was doing but he listened to Milady. Leyas believed that the two were together, which she liked because she didn't want Milady to get in between her parents. Right now Redemption was an important support to Leyas despite her worries. Leyas knew her parents still saw her as a child but the war had forced her to grow up quickly. She was no longer as naive as she had been when the war had began, she had seen too much to deny any longer that inside she felt as if she somehow had to play a part in things to come.

So she had a plan, and Trey would help her along with redemption. They were going to show the world that she was not afraid but rather she was embracing who she was always meant to be. She was Leyas Yamato, the princess of the PLANTs and when the battle begun she would rise with them and take back her birthright. Jayley Lired was never meant to sit atop the PLANT nation and to control them in her mothers stead. Jayley had destroyed honor, lied and cheated her world out of the guidance it needed and Leyas would stand for it no longer. People around her were beginning to understand but they weren't doing anything about it. No this fight fell to Leyas and Leyas alone. Jayley would have to suffer for what she did, and the greatest suffering she would experience was loosing the power which made her a threat to the world. Leyas Yamato was stronger than Jayley would ever be and she knew now she would defeat the tyrant once and for all.

As Meiko's enemy was John Liene so Leyas's enemy was Jayley Lired.

* * *

Her eyes opened and she awakened everything was different in the world around her. She had been walking a road for so long desiring so many things at once and so many times she had not understood what she should do but after once again witnessing the twisted hatred that existed in the world. Now Meiko felt her heart change as she had fallen asleep, a fresh determination and a fresh strength. Liene had won before but never again. She'd been begging for vengeance for so long and she knew that now she would not rest until it was over and Liene felt everything he had ever felt before; nothing else would make her feel better. She had lost herself in ROW and this day he would loose himself. She no longer cared of the danger for many would say she was playing with fire by the determination and anger on her face but she knew now that though she had found a place of peace her heart would be frozen until it was done.

No more tears to cry for anything nor any reason. Nothing else mattered and she knew now she had closed her eyes from the truth for too long. She was not like those whom now she knew were family. Despite being his daughter she was not Kira Yamato; as she told Yaro he was not John Liene. She would not take her fathers name despite how she loved him already, no she would hold the one thing that was her own, Virea; she was Meiko Virea.

She reached out with her mind trying to once again brush that place where she would find Uzumi but that place was lost to her suddenly. She was resolved and healed of the emotional past that once held her down and now she no longer needed him. He was the driving force behind so many things, so many actions that she had taken. He had saved her more than once and even in death he went on saving her. His memory drove her as she had realized long ago that his destiny was in a way so much greater than hers. He represented hope to her, and his undying faith was immortal.

Now that she stood near the end she held tightly to the memories of Uzumi and the immortal truths that he stood for. From the moment he met her, to the many times he was there; they had faced the dark together and in the end he had shielded her from it. He showed her love, laying down his life for her unselfishly and that was something she would never ever forget. Though the world had seemed to move on around her, she still remembered the moment of his death as if it had happened the day before. She would never forget his bravery and she knew somehow even when she couldn't feel him there he would always be there. No one could change that.

Now she fought remembering him, and the short life he had lived. 15 was too young to die and she knew it was one of the many sins that Liene would pay for. For this she fought and for the world. It was the crossroads and she had taken the road less traveled. This far down there would be no turning back.

* * *

**To Answer Some Questions:**  
**Gryser Cerrian is making his appearances now, he was the one behind Jayley's entrance and defection from ROW, more on him will be revealed as time goes on. For now he's a part of an organization that has managed to stay completely secret, his motives are unrevealed but he has had a hand in many events. It will also be revealed he has more connections with some other characters in the story. So he will have a more heavy hand in Immortal.**

**So sorry it's taken me forever to write this chapter, I've been trying to write but I've been distracted with Immortal planning. I just put down into stone a pretty tragic and gruesome scene cause next story the stakes will be raised by a lot and I'm not going to be as nice with second chances.**

**So I'm extremely sorry, I realized today that it had been over two months since my last update. So I've been really discouraged with the ending responses so far, I got a lot more responses at the midpoint of the story, it seems to be going down every time I post (granted they've been farther and farther). So for the next five phases I am pushing through but I am going to need your help. I need you to keep giving me feedback and reviews to let me know what you think because I already am working on Immortal and I need inspiration to finish this one off first before I continue that one. So review! REVIEW! I did a fast finish to get this chapter up today to let you know I need inspiration! REVIEW!**

**The Battle starts next phase. I want to hear every thought you have going into it.**

**-WinterChill  
**


	48. The Battle for Mankind

**Phase 46: The Battle for Mankind**

* * *

Gera was near her machine, the warnings through the PLANTs were intense but Jayley had not given her any signs of what to do. She stood and stared at her leader who was watching the battle on the monitor with a harsh breath trying to deal with what was happening before her eyes. She had been waiting for a battle that was promised her by the man she called father now, he had taken her in after the disaster in Gibraltar. She had been promised retribution and that Liene would stand back and let her destroy those that were behind everything, but now Liene was the foremost enemy and everything that she had planned was crashing around her.

Her stepfather was Gryser Cerrian, a man who had been involved with everything all along. She didn't understand now why he was ignoring her messages and leaving her here when he had cared for her this long. He was responsible for giving her hope, he promised her so much but he was sending nothing. No army, just Gera.

"I need my orders Jayley," Gera said floating behind her with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression on her face, "we don't have much time and we need to hold them off till the NEA gets here. Then everything will work out and I'll be able to go after Virea."

"Shut up Gera!" Jayely protested shocking the girl, "none of that matters now! I was promised help but he's not responding! He raised me and cared for me, now I need him to tell me what to do and he's not here!" Jayley's anger was overflowing now, Cerrian may have given her everything but she executed his plans perfectly, she had to believe that she did it without him now. She knew that she was nothing without him yet in a way she somehow had to break that to continue what she started.

"Cerrian," Gera sniffed, "he just want's Liene defeated before the bastard has a chance to tell Meiko Virea about him. He knows that his time is up if Meiko's eyes turn to him so he'll likely sit this one out and watch ROW and Virea self destruct in this battle, for it comes down to them. I myself want her dead for how she took my place as number one in ROW." Jayley wasn't even listening as Gera spoke, the wheels in her head were turning as she knew that her brilliance had been a huge part of getting them here. Cerrian wanted ROW ended and Virea dead to save his own skin so he could continue his own plan to take over the world, well Jayley saw it clearly now. She was a pawn in his game, but he had given her more power than anyone else. She had ZAFT beneath her fingertips and the black gundam. He was wrong if he thought she wouldn't use them.

"You're task Gera will be to destroy the Eternal," Jayley spoke now with authority, "not Virea! You will obey me and kill Lacus for what she did!" Gera was surprised now, she knew somehow that Jayley hadn't forgotten the past.

"Calm down Jayley, reason with yourself," Gera began, "Cerrian will never…"

"He doesn't matter anymore!" Jayely exclaimed, "he's been wrong all along. Liene is right, there is so much bad in the world and it begins with those who say they are fighting for peace. Lacus and her ideals have brought this world so much pain! She can't see it so we'll have to show her! You will defeat them Gera! For the sake of the world!" Gera didn't understand what that had to do with the world, but she did understand that Jayley was her commander and what she said was important now.

* * *

An explosion rocked the ship he was on as Oran Veron ran through the halls toward the hanger. The 17 year old was fast on his feet and had been training for this day for a long time. He had always had a gut feeling that one day ROW would arise from the shadows and show up on ZAFT's doorstep, but he never expected them to have such a large force. Oran was proud of his rank in ZAFT, he was a red pilot who was the ace of his military division. He had a custom unit that he was sure would serve him well today, but his unit had just entered the battlefield. It seemed the PLANT lines were thinning out quickly and the aid they were promised was on it's way.

"Oran," he heard his 15 year old brother Micah's voice as he entered the hangar, "thank goodness, they need you out there! It's crazy! ROW has these two new twin gundams and this awesome ship! I wish I could go out with you!" Micah was still a green in ZAFT and had barley made it to ship assignments this time around. Oran wasn't very happy that he was along, this battle was much more serious than his little brother was prepared for but he trusted that the ship would be a safe place for him.

"Someday," Oran said to his brother looking toward his machine, "just survive through this!"

* * *

Liene smiled at the battlefield before him, this was all too easy. His robotics dominated the center of the battlefield, upgraded and improved. The PLANT war with ORB had damaged many of the ZAFT forces and though they were formidable they did not expect ROW to be so expanded. Liene had brought his full fleets, many many ships and countless amounts of robotics as well as different units. He was only fighting with half force now, leaving the other half distant enough that no one would see them waiting for orders, he would wait here and he believed he could win this battle now with half his fleet. He also had another weapon in the waiting that he would reveal when the Clyne faction made it's appearance with the NEA, ORB, Redemption and Virea. He knew they were coming. He could feel it but he had to keep the battle going and wait.

He knew he could win or loose here but his main goal would have to be met. His true motives would come out and things would change drastically. He could feel it now, no one knew what was coming and no one understood the gravity of what was happening around them. There were threats so much greater than ROW and if they made it through the world would be worse off. Here today he would eliminate all war and bring peace to the world. Through death he would bring change and those who survived would be stronger because of it. Just a little more time.

* * *

Oran launched onto the battlefield joining his team in the battle. The units appeared to be RMUs, robotic mobile units. He had heard of them after the famed sting battle but he had never expected them to be as fast as they were. He whipped around one quickly firing and trying to destroy them as fast as he could. He gritted his teeth as he realized there were many real piloted machines in the mix that appeared the same as the robotics. It threw him off at first as a piloted machine attacked him and he whipped out his beam saber to meet the enemy full on. He sliced through a gun the enemy carried and the other machine flashed a beam saber against him slicing at him quickly.

"Long live ROW!" The pilot declared and Oran near laughed. He quickly spun his machine whipping out a powerful gun and firing three times, faster than the pilot could blink, breaking weak points in his armor and causing explosions to engulf the machine.

"Quickly die ROW," Oran responded with a blank expression. Killing was not a fun job but he had to defend the PLANTs, for all the people he knew were there. Everyone was counting on him and not just him but the whole of ZAFT and the honor there was to be within the ranks of these forces today.

"Kiran Yamato!" he yelled, "Courage launching!" Kiran smiled as the Minerva and a few ORB ships along with the Archangel were the first to reach the battlefield. He was excited by the action around him and ready to take out as many ROW units as possible. He moved toward the battlefield and noticed Ceveris's machine beside him.

"Hey Kid," Ceveris yelled as they began to fight, "be careful! Don't get cocky!" Kiran smiled at this.

"I'm not a kid," was all he said in response destroying three robotic units in a quick sequence on complicated moves, "perhaps I was then, but now I'm so much more." He took off into the midst of the battlefield firing on units, destroying as many ROW units as he could. Rules were off since Meiko shows up and if the unit belonged to ROW it would go down by him. He took in the sight of the battlefield as the PLANT units seemed to gather hope from the reinforcements; they had been outnumbered before and the new arrivals were for sure welcome on this field of battle.

Kiran then looked around to see two ROW gundams he did not expect, they were identical and they moved together amazingly. He saw them bearing down toward a PLANT unit that was doing very well. The unit would be all alone when they reached him, Kiran hoped he could hold off for thirty seconds.

* * *

Oran slashed through another robotic units and turned his head to see coming toward him the two gundams that he had read about while boarding. The were identical and they were tearing up the battlefield toward him. Three more ZAFT units down when they arrived. He heard a voice on his speaker informing him that ORB units were there now but he didn't have time to process it as the dodged the dual attack of the machines.

"Come on!" Oran yelled angrily trying to keep up with their perfectly in sync tactics. They were double teaming on him.

"We're ROW's secret weapon," a female voice said, "I'm Ura and that's Un! We've received orders to destroy!" The girl sounded crazy and just as Oran was getting ready to fight back he realized there was a shot coming toward he he wouldn't be able to dodge. He wasn't going to die here, not after fighting in this battle as long as he had. But the shot never came as a new machine on his radar shielded the beam and stood against the second of the two machines.

"Let's even the odds a bit," the voice of a younger pilot. Oran nodded as he saw the pilots face on the screen, it wasn't ZAFT but the boy somehow seemed familiar. The two moved together perfectly dodging and fighting off the gundams when more ORB forces came to back up the machine the two gundams seemed to not like it and backed off moving quickly toward the other side of the battlefield; for ROW's secret weapons they either scared easy or had other orders to attend to.

"You're good," he said to the pilot of the first machine that came to help him, "who are you?"

"I'm Kiran Yamato," the Pilot said blasting away to pick a fight with whatever it could find. So he had been fighting with Kiran Yamato, one of Lacus's children and the son of the famed Kira Yamato. No wonder he seemed familiar.

* * *

"Minerva load all missile tubes and get ready to take down the nearest vessel," Meyrin gave orders, now that their pilots were out there the ORB ships were moving into the thick of the battlefield, "Steady people!"

"Meyrin status report!" she heard Athrun's voice as she looked to the screen.

"We have arrived," Meyrin responded, "where are you guys?" They had somehow been ahead of the rest and it confused them but they were fighting anyway.

"Hit a rough patch of something and we veered off course," Athrun responded, "but we're in sight now, we'll be there!"

"Rodger that" Meyrin said dropping her hand in signal to fire, "just hurry it's getting ugly out here!"

* * *

"Battlefield in sight, battlefield in sight, all pilots board your machines, level one battle stations."

"Level one!"

"This is it people!"

Meiko tapped her foot inside her mobile suit impatiently as they neared the battlefield, every fiber in her being was begging for a fight. Everything she was was ready for this moment. Her mind was clear as just an hour before so much had been said. She had reconciled herself to many possibilities but now she thought of none of them as she entered a blank mindset of the machine she had always been. She for one second knew that she had to forget all that had happened before and focus completely on her goal. It wasn't long now.

* * *

"Shinn Auska, Destiny launching!" Lacus heard the voices as she sat on the Externals bridge.

"Lunamaria Hawk, Impulse launching!" She smiled as Kira's face appeared on the screen. The final adjustments had been made the night before, he was flying his new machine and ready to prove that the wait was worth it.

"Kira Yamato," he said smiling and winking at Lacus, "this is the Ultra Freedom, I'm heading out!" He skyrocketed onto the battlefield meeting up with Athrun and a group of ORB mobile suits that had also entered. The Tranquility headed a large number of ORB and Clyne Faction forces as it moved in to back up the ZAFT units. Redemption was lagging behind just entering the battlefield. On board the Reversal were Yaro, Meiko and Trey along with Leyas whom had transferred without permission but it was too late now to think about that.

"Moving into stage one," Athrun said affirming their plans, "ORB pilots spread out and hold the line. Teams 7 and 12 move into close range with the ships! Protect the PLANTs and our units. Destiny and Impulse head times 9 and 18, get close to the flagships and search for Liene."

"Rodger!" Lunamaria and Shinns voices were heard.

"Ultra Freedom," Athrun said, "With me!" Kira smiled as he flew his new machine alongside the Truth, it was just like old times. They began on their targeting computers targeting as many ROW machines as they could and firing a large amount of firepower onto the field. Signaling their arrival.

* * *

"Sir the Clyne faction and ORB units are on the field," Gilligan Manchester said to Liene, "do you want to transfer to the weapon now." Liene smiled as he knew exactly how to play the field now. He would be revealing his STING 2, a very large flagship with a whole lot of weapons, it was more mobile than a singular large cannon but it had what he needed to really dominate the battle here and now. He also knew that once it was revealed that was the first place they would look for him.

"No," Liene said, "I will transfer to the Drudgen, it's smaller and less like a flagship and will garner less attention. Keep it well behind the STING 2 though, we wouldn't want to get in on the messy crossfire." Gilligan nodded, Liene's strategy's were interesting now as he stared at the battlefield. He identified the Reversal approaching and assumed that was where Meiko was now. Not long and she would launch. Not long and it would appear as if ROW was loosing. He would just have to drag this out long enough to wear out the enemy forces and break their spirits. Not much more to it.

* * *

The road that led them to this moment was unfathomable and the memories of all that had taken place would break any that were not as strong. The issue now was how would they handle themselves in the face of the enemy today. This is where Yaro was resilient now, fighting everything he knew within him that was wrong and clinging to Meiko's light in hopes that it would keep him from the darker side he knew he possessed. They were getting ready to enter the battle and now he knew he must put all unsureness behind him, his family had made it clear that no truths about his past changed anything for them. He was one of them.

_"No matter what Liene said," Kira spoke to Yaro knowing that they would be boarding their machines soon and he had to get this out before they were off, "no matter what your past is Yaro I want you to know that to me you are and always will be my son. No matter what he says, I raised you and watched you grow and I care about you far more than he ever did or ever will. No shadow of him can take you now, you make your own choices and you were raised to make the right ones. Just trust yourself, you know who you are deep within and don't let anything he said or will continue to say change that before you. I am proud of you son, and I love you." Tears welled up in Yaro's eyes as he heard it from the man who changed everything. Kira was right, he was always the one who was there and always the one who would be there. No matter whose blood ran through him Yaro knew that Kira would always be his father and that truth strengthened him in this moment._

_"Thank you father," Yaro spoke now receiving everything Kira said, "you are right. Liene will never be my father, you are and I know that you raised me right." This was what Kira wanted to hear from him. That no matter how dark things had gotten Yaro was still here with them, his son._

Now his hands grazed over the controls as he looked out toward the door that would open to space soon. He did not know exactly what he would find out there, nor how things would be but he knew who he was. He was not Yaro Liene as his biological father had tried to say, no he was Yaro Yamato, the eldest son of Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne. He had been raised in their family and they had taught him everything, how to live life and how to protect it. They lived honorable lives in service of the world and he knew that he had inherited their legacy and would fight to protect them and his siblings. For Kiran, Leyas and Kayla. His brother and sisters whom had been such a larger part of his life. Leyas with her own kind of strength, Kayla with her eyes that saw through everything everyone tried to hide and Kiran, his little brother who had changed so much with the war. Kiran was now very much like their father. It was for these and for Meiko Virea that he fought. Meiko Virea who was connected to them all through everything, and who he had grown to love.

Today he was ready and as he heard the launch order his moved his machine out to space, shining in the sky and bearing down toward the battlefield.

* * *

Kira broke through the enemy lines with Athrun and the two began destroying as many units as were exiting ships before targeting ships engines.

"Athrun bear right," he said to his good friend as the two approached one of the larger ROW vessels. They dodged the firepower as he unveiled one of his new weapons. The large cannon blasted an electric bolt alongside the vessel causing many of the cannons to explode as they fired up. He the quickly switched weapons to a more powerful cannon that tore through the ships left set of engines causing massive explosions and crippling the vessel.

He backed off and Athrun was right beside him as an ORB ship picked up their work firing its main cannon into the thick of the ROW forces. ROW had brought quite a bit of firepower and a massive amount of machines but these machines seemed to be weaker than Kira would have expected. For someone who was making an attempt of war on the entire world this wasn't what he expected.

"It's too easy," Athrun said echoing his thoughts.

"Somethings off," Kira said glaceing around the battlefield. Meiko had not entered yet, that was off and Liene was obviously holding back. It was then that all ROW ships seemed to fire at once and Kira and Athrun were all forced to dodge quite a bit. When the blasts faded behind them were much more ROW units and these one were human piloted.

"Great," Kira said rolling his eyes.

"That can't be all he has up his sleeve," Athrun responded. It was then that suddenly the Dreamer, which was moving at a high speed, moved out into the ROW battlefield and spun around, firing it's power surger and taking away power from as many machines as it could hit. Yaro was using the highest setting so some exploded with the sudden loss of energy and Yaro's machine powered up so he fired a large blast into the side of a ROW ship destroying it entirely.

Kira and Athrun then moved into action, both knowing that Yaro was right in not stalling but attacking full on. Speed was their ally in this battle and the quicker they were at foiling Liene's plans the better.

* * *

"This is Trey and Leyas launching!" he said and he knew Meiko heard him but for some reason she was hesitating. Leyas smiled as the two entered the battlefield.

"Remember stay close to the back," Leyas said to Trey, "We need to be in position for the plan to work." Trey nodded, he was protecting her with his life and he knew that since they told very few people of their plan that her life was in his hands. It was then that Yzak launched in Redemption's Honor.

"I'm taking teams A13 and H3," Yzak said to Trey, "leaving Team F8 under your command, stay safe." Yzak then sped into the battlefield with a large amount of Redemption units trailing him. Trey smiled at this. Yzak was one of those pilots with enough skill and recklessness to be really formidable. It was interesting to see him leading that many units toward the ROW lines. Trey looked toward the ROW ships and saw that there were quite a few; such a large force was necessary for Liene to even think to make a dent but somehow Trey thought that something was missing. The tactics were too crude, Liene wasn't just going to launch an army of ships and mobile suits alone and all out at once, he was holding something back. Trey gritted his teeth and prayed he was wrong.

* * *

Athrun fought off a couple of ROW units when Shinn came up behind him with a few ORB units and blasted them away. The Destiny still looked strong even though he knew Shinn had led his team through a large amount of ships. There were clear signs as the number of team members had significantly lessened.

"The Tranquility is ready," Shinn said, "We're sending in teams 25 and 2, we're still looking for Liene's flagship." Athrun nodded as they both felt the weight of what was going on around them.

"The ZAFT forces have exhibited no hostile activity and the NEA troops have arrived," The Impulse was next to him now as Lunamaria brought her report. It was good that the ZAFT forces seemed to be accepting the Clyne faction and ORB as aid and not as enemies but as long as Jayley was leading the PLANTs they would have to continue to be wary. It was an odd situation but it appeared ROW was loosing this battle by the amount of forces that had come to back the PLANTs up.

"And Meiko?" Athrun asked the two of them, they wanted to know what Virea was planning.

"She's still out," it was just then that the Phoenix skyrocketed from the Reversal flying fast across the battlefield and destroying every ROW unit in her path as she did.

"I guess she's ready to start her part," Shinn said wondering why it had taken her this long to get out here, a lot of the battlefield was already being handled but her mobile suit did look beautiful as she destroyed everything in her path. Nothing could stand before her now.

* * *

Yaro blasted through another ship trying to deal with the amount of robotics that seemed to switch focus to him once he made it into the middle of ROW lines He blasted through one when a large cannon blast destroyed ten at once and he turned to see the Phoenix's bright wings glistening the lights around it and moving to fire many beams from the tips. Many more robotics exploded as Meiko moved at a high speed through the battle area. She didn't leave herself vunerable with the anger she fought with. Yaro felt himself grow more determined as he saw how she moved through the area. He moved behind her picking up on things she missed and firing his own shots.

"What took you so long?" Yaro asked her as the two were back to back now fighting off whatever came toward them. She smiled at his question as she realized she was in the launch cannon for quite a bit of time. She was waiting for her mind to be completely clear before coming out here, and she wasn't going to budge until she was ready. This was their final hour, the day she knew that ROW would fall.

"I'm ready now," Meiko responded fighting off another wave of machines, "that's what matters." She glanced around the battlefield looking at the flagships, waiting for the right one. She had to stop their tactics before Liene started with his brutality. She could not tell where he would be. Her first instincts were to find the most powerful and protected ship when she realized that he knew she was out here and what she was probably planning on doing. No she had to think as if she were him in this instance. She had to find him.

* * *

Flay sat aboard the Reversal as Trey and Leyas backed the large ship up. She ordered more missiles fired toward the ROW ships and commanded her units well as she watched taking everything in. Once again she affirmed what everyone else was thinking that she did not understand why something felt off. This just wasn't what she expected when she heard that Liene was declaring war on the entire world.

She saw the Eternal was doing well on the battlefield. The Minerva and the Courage were also breaking lines. The ZAFT forces were not hostile toward the new units but something was scaring her, she looked to where Meiko and Yaro were fighting a longer ways from the main troops. She wondered what it was that girl was thinking about what was going on as she looked to Leyas and Trey whom she knew had to move soon if they were to stop the inevitable; Jayley Lired's madness.

* * *

Jayley was getting angry as she watched ORB and the Clyne faction enter in with Redemption on their tails. The NEA had also arrived and were backing their troops up which was good but she didn't like seeing her former enemies on her field of battle and fighting alongside her troops when her troops should have destroyed them long ago. No matter ROW and Redemption would soon end each other and she would have to make sure ROW ended quickly, then her troops would turn on her enemies. Lacus would have to go down by Gera who was surveying the field now and waiting for an opportunity when the aces were all distracted. Jayley would give her that opportunity.

"Corporal," she said to one of her staff, "ready the cannon." The man looked shocked but she was not going to back down on this one, "don't just stand there, ready it!"

* * *

Liene saw it coming as out of the midst of the PLANT's a mirage fell and the ship with it's mounted cannon came out. He knew Jayley was snapping as he expected she would and he knew what moves she was making next as he could predict that this had been coming for quite some time. She was trying to draw and accelerate his plans through this but she was wrong in thinking that he didn't have counter measures. The cannon that was attached to that ship had been in production for a long time and in that time Liene had been able to steal it's schematics through spies. He had placed them in information that he knew the Clyne faction had taken and once the ship started destroying their forces as well as ROW's he knew they would act.

His game of chess was working perfectly as the ZAFT forces would break away from the rest and cause chaos. The amount of people in this battle was insane, there would for sure be a massive amount of alliances broken if this continued. The NEA were more heavily connected to ZAFT than to the Clyne faction and ORB. Everything was falling right.

He smiled now, ready for his next move and he watched as Meiko moved about his ships with purpose; she was coming and he was sure she would be angry this time but he had much he had to tell her. She would cause her own death not him, that was the cruelest thing he could do but before that she had to alert the world that would remain of the danger that was coming. There was so much more they didn't understand and so much more that he would change before this was over. He was so close now, just hold on a little farther and his enemies would self destruct from the conflicts they had left unresolved.

* * *

"What is that thing?" Athrun asked as the ZAFT ship fired into the ROW troops taking out quite a few of them, it was quite a large weapon to be mounted on the ship that was under it. That ship was too small to be powering it. Kira was shocked that ZAFT had such a weapon, when he was in the ZAFT military there were clauses preventing coordinators from building larger cannons in fear of another incident like with the Genesis and Requiem and Neo Genesis. Jayley must have caused more changes than were apparent from the outside.

"Just be glad we're on their side this time around," Kira responded looking back toward the shocked ROW troops who were still showing superior numbers in this battle, "that thing is evening the odds for us just slightly." He was still concerned about Jayley's unstable state but he realized that thing probably couldn't fire as much as was expected.

* * *

Meiko was ignoring the rest of the battlefield as she let her mind and body separate for now, her mobile suit moved quickly as she continued to fight but her mind was everywhere else but here and now. Yaro followed her seeking to protect her as he realized something was different. Something was blocking her focus but he made it completely as she called out to her seed trying to get her super seed to respond but it wasn't. She reached out with her mind again as she knew now she would need every perception her super seed had to offer to find out where Liene was, because he was all they needed to end this and she had failed on Mars and couldn't fail here.

Her mind for a second faltered then she felt a presence around her but her super seed still didn't break. She needed one last push to get her to that place where she knew Uzumi would be waiting for her to ask him for help.

"Meiko watch out!" Yaro yelled over her radio as a blast was heading straight toward the Phoenix. The Dream wouldn't block it in time, Meiko would need to move. She opened her eyes just in time to grab her controls tighter but in this instance her survival instincts kicked in and it was what she needed her normal seed exploded and she grasped her super seed ignoring the pain and moving out of the blast's range. She called in her mind now searching every piece of information she had ever seen in ROW trying to understand everything that she once rejected.

_"You know what it is you need," she heard Uzumi's voice, "you know who you are. Now grasp a hold of every memory you repressed and understand everything. Look deeper Meiko!" The surge of super seed energy filled her mind with the past but she couldn't hold it for long._

The super seed energy faded but Meiko had what she wanted, she had Liene's strategy at her fingertips. She looked to where Yaro was and knew what his place was on this battlefield; he could not go in with her this time and he had to respect that.

"Yaro!" She said as they fought side by side against robotics, "I'm going to find Liene but I need you to listen to me now, you can't come with me! Your destiny is so much larger, you have to stay out here because there is something much worse coming! Liene's not finished yet, there is so much more!" He listened to her and he understood. She would be going in but he would have to remain to fight whatever it was Liene still had not revealed. He understood as he defeated more and more robotics, this was just the beginning of everything and though he had sworn to protect Meiko he had also sworn to protect his family and she could take care of herself. He nodded to her.

"I will do what you ask," he said. She believed him though a part of her mind warned her. There was so much more they did not understand yet about him, so many things that he was capable of since he could sustain the super seed. He could see more than she could if he accessed it and she wondered what he would do once he realized the power that he held. For his was fully awake and ready for him to use.

* * *

"All ZAFT forces," Jayley spoke now to her troops, "the Clyne faction is as much of your enemy as ROW, though they mask themselves as our friends they are our enemies and we are to regard them as such." Oran couldn't believe what his chairwoman was saying now, he knew that she had something against Lacus Clyne but this was ridiculous, their main focus should be ROW now!

"All ZAFT forces, heed my words, we need to protect the PLANTs from all enemies," she knew that those who were on her side would attack now and those who weren't would be forced to attack later. The hierarchy of the ZAFT forces dictated that they had to obey those over them and in this instance she was over them.

* * *

Lacus gritted her teeth at the insolence of Jayley, one of her units had gone back to ZAFT recently to keep tabs on this battle and it seemed Jayley was not dropping old grudges. She wondered how this would alter the battlefield for her family as she tried to keep above it all.

* * *

"Kiran!" he turned as he heard his name and saw on his screen it was the ZAFT pilot he had met with earlier, "you have to get out of this area, that cannon! We're moving ZAFT forces away from here because the cannon is going to fire in this direction!" Kiran was shocked at what he heard and Oran was ernest to tell Kiran what he knew. Jayley was daring enough to fire upon the Clyne faction as well as ROW in this battle. the NEA was on their side and would surely react to this.

"Thank you!" Kiran said relaying the message to Clyne faction troops to get out of this area. But he had moved just in time, the blast moved down the battlefield taking out ROW, Clyne faction and ORB troops as it went. The Redemption units had been in a different area and were unaffected.

"How dare she!" Kiran protested.

"She's not letting go," Oran responded, "she's going to destroy as many of ROW as she can and of you, she still hates your family for some reason.

"Who are you?" Kiran demanded now. He wanted to remember the name of the person who had warned him of the danger.

"I am Oran Vernon," the pilot responded.

* * *

Kira was shocked at what Jayley had just pulled, she moved her units out before anyone realized what was happening. The second shot from that cannon was weaker, probably due to the low charge up time she had given it but it was enough to cause a problem. He knew that he had to drop focus on ROW and get back to Lacus soon, the game had changed slightly and they were dealing with a lot more than they expected.

* * *

Gera destroyed both Clyne faction units and ROW units as she moved through the battlefield, indiscriminately destroying what it was she could. She had a target and it was the Eternal now, because she obeyed her leader and she knew that the sooner she destroyed the Clyne faction the sooner she could go after Meiko and Yaro.

* * *

Athrun and Shinn moved together now fighting ROW and the few ZAFT units that had the audacity to obey Jayley's orders to fight their own allies.

"This is ridiculous!" Shinn protested as he felt anger over the situation, "they listen to that idiot woman! We're here to help, not to cause harm." Athrun agreed with Shinn at this point and he was ready to respond when a blast knocked his machine off balance and he turned to see the two ROW gundams moving toward him.

"Un will finish you off," a female voice said as Ura moved her machine with Un's to fire on the two gundams that Liene had ordered them to destroy. They both smiled in sync as they had successfully thrown the legendary machines off.

"Even more ridiculous!" Shinn responded to the recent attack meeting Ura's machine as Athrun defended against Un.

* * *

"Now that everything is in place," Liene said to his commanders, "We are taking the field. They are falling into my plans perfectly, Jayley's pride will be the end of everything. Bring out the STING 2!" The commanders nodded as Liene smiled, he would win here.

* * *

The ship approached the battlefield and all turned to it's magnificence, it wasn't the same as the old STING or anywhere near it's design but it was meant for the same purpose and with that it was just as much of a danger. The large ship had four smaller cannons, all nuclear blasts that wreaked havoc as it began firing into the fray of the battlefield, disregarding it's own soldiers.

"Kira we have a problem!" Kira heard his son Yaro's voice as the dreamer backed up the Freedom.

"I know!" Kira responded when the machine stopped firing. Kira turned to see the Eternal was still up and so was the Reversal, the Minerva and the Tranquility. Yaro then noticed the black Gundam moving toward the Eternal and he sent a message to the Archangel and it's crew.

"You go father," Yaro responded, "help the Eternal. I'll get the Archangel and go after this thing! Hurry." Kira nodded as he noticed the danger as well. He only hoped Yaro was up to the challenge before him.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Kira said as he sped off to help Lacus.

* * *

"I think we need to move now," Trey said to Leyas and she nodded to him.

"We do," she replied looking out, "because we can't afford to be divided any longer! We have to move!"

* * *

**There you have the beginnings. I began with the PLANTs perspective and I introduced a new character Oran to display the view of a ZAFT solider because I realized I didn't really have any on the good side in this story. So it's begun, I jammed as much as I could for build up in this chapter, I have two more battle chapters then a wrap up for the battle and a wrap up for the entire story.**

**Remember**

**Phase 47: The Light of the Seed  
Phase 48: Unbroken  
Phase 49: Yaro's Path  
Phase 50: Shattered**

**So hard to look at this and see that it's ending! So much more to come, I hope the final chapters are as epic as I've tried to make them and that they will keep delivering shocking surprises. I know Immortal is going to be a shocking story because I've rehashed it so many times that it's never going to be what it seems. **

**So let me know what you think about this chapter. I worked to get it out as fast as I could and I am going to work steadily on the next ones as well. So please REVIEW and let me know, seriously reading your reviews is the biggest help I can get from you to write this story.**

**REVIEW**

**-WinterChill  
**


	49. The Light of the Seed

**Phase 47: The Light of the Seed**

* * *

"Damn you!" Shinn yelled as he fought off the twin machine and Athrun cursed as well. These machines were not particularly run by skilled pilots but their determination and the power that was harnessed within them was becoming overwhelming. Athrun and Shinn pulled out more tricks wondering how it was that Kiran and the ORB machines had fought them off earlier, they must have been held back for this battle. The two aces dodged and fired back but nothing seemed to be penetrating their machines and neither Athrun nor Shinn could afford to charge a more powerful blast without loosing some part of their own mobile suits.

"No you can't!" Luna's voice was heard as the Impulse slammed it's machine into the one fighting Shinn throwing that machine off balance and giving him the chance to fire a more powerful blast to the one fighting Athrun which knocked the other's weapon and melted part of it's arm.

"No fair!" the girls voice came as Ura came back to fight Luna but the team of Luna and Shinn met her with powerful amounts of strength. Athrun was being backed up by ORB machines against the weakened Un and they were beginning to make she ground. He hoped they could get out of this soon as he noticed Yaro and the Archangel moving for Liene's STING 2.

* * *

"Par les cendres distancées et la mort dans son sillage, comme les flammes se fanent elle montera de nouveau," Ceveris said as he looked in the distance to see the Phoenix fighting. Ceveris had done so many things in his life and from one organization he had heard the prophecy of the Phoenix, to live to see it amazed him but he felt a beckoning, something had changed and he knew that those who had told him that phrase had seen it as well and they would not be far behind.

"Ceveris!" he heard Meyrin's voice as his machine deflected another robotics shot.

"Yes Mey," he responded firing back and destroying the machine that he was fighting. He turned to see Kiran flying toward the Minerva at a high speed as the ZAFT weapon fired again this time taking a Clyne faction ship away along with a few ROW forces. He shook his head at the madness he was seeing from Jayley Lired and something clicked in his mind.

"We need to figure out how to stop that thing before it destroys more of us than of ROW!" Meyrin said frantically but Ceveris was barely hearing her as another message appeared on his screen. _Jayley has gone out of bounds but let her off_, was all it said. He didn't understand as the secret he was hiding he knew would be revealed today. The most important thing to him through it all was that Meyrin be protected from all this; there were to many things the world didn't understand but when it came down to it he knew that he lost her once and would never risk loosing her again. He looked back toward the Minerva and destroyed a few more robotics, disarmed a ZAFT unit and turned to see Kiran flying toward him.

"Have you been listening to anything," Kiran said catching Ceveris's attention, "I found a schematic of the cannon from ZAFT, Meyrin wants us inside to discuss how to take it out! The ORB forces have given the Minerva this task!" He was surprised that Kiran would have the schematic but he trusted that Kiran was right so he followed the courage back into the Minerva.

* * *

"The Minerva is pulling back," Waltfeld said to Lacus as the Eternal fired a large beam toward an oncoming ROW ship.

"That's fine," Lacus responded, "They are going to regroup for a moment. Our focus is getting through these lines. Inform the Archangel that Yaro wants their help on a full battle assault on the enemy ship!" At that moment a large blast rocked the Eternal throwing it off course as the Black Gundam fired at them the flew quickly in their direction.

"We have a problem," Waltfeld declared locating the source of the blast and the machine that had caused it. That was the machine that had gone after Yaro in the battle for ORB and it seemed to be slightly upgraded since their last encounter.

"Load missile tubes, aim side cannons," Lacus declared searching the battlefield for a better out but that machine was targeting them, "hurry!" It was then that machine vanished causing them all to wonder.

"Mirrage!" a crew member declared as another blast rocked the Eternal and the machine reappeared closer to the bridge.

"FIRE!" Lacus yelled.

* * *

Lunamaria moved her machine quickly dodging another attack from one of the twin mobile suits. Shinn fired on it yelling out angry statements as he sought to disarm it. Luna turned to help Athrun again as a few of the ORB units went down. She breathed hard trying to keep up with both units and help out where she could. She spun about and was knocked off by a blast from one of the machines.

"LUNA!" she heard Shinn yell. Where he was his seed exploded in his mind causing a more intense focus and power. He moved around the mobile suit catching it's fire power with his shield and slicing off one of it's legs. Luna was right behind him picking up that the machine was thrown off and that it seemed to dislike close distance combat. She pulled both her beam sabers and was met by the other machine with one. She sliced at it causing more damage as Shinn shot it from farther back. The Machine seemed angry and fired causing the side of the Impulse to be damaged. Luna gritted her teeth as the heat in her cockpit increased.

"Pull back!" Athrun yelled as he saw what was happening.

"No!" Luna responded catching the machines weak point and jamming her beam saber through its armor and moving back just as the machine exploded. Her breathing increased but one of them was down.

"You're going to pay for that!" Ura declared angrily moving toward Luna, but Athrun was there fighting it off.

"You're hurt!" Shinn declared. He was angry at what that machine had done but he was also angry that Luna had taken such a risk. He knew now he would have to continue to protect her from close calls such as this.

"Get her back to the Eternal!" Athrun yelled to Shinn as he fought this machine. He could take this one. Shinn nodded and grabbed the Impulsed and moved back to base quickly. Luna breathed quickly as she felt a dizziness filling her, she should not have even come out here today but she had won a small victory which meant they were one step closer. For that she was thankful and for that she was satisfied.

* * *

"FIRE!" Lacus yelled once again as the Black Gundam continued to move, dodging their attempts. Tears filled Lacus's eyes at the hatred she was seeing coming forth from that machine and how it seemed to be on a rampage to kill them at all costs. Everyone on the bridge near froze trying to find a way out, loading weapons and firing what they could but it kept disappearing and firing on them.

"No!" Lacus heard Kayla's voice as the little girl entered the bridge, her eyes filled with seed mode and she stared out the window. Gera felt a strange power in her mind and faltered for a second trying to keep her eyes on the Eternal. It had to go down today. It was then that out of nowhere Kira arrived. The Ultra Freedom shined brightly as he knocked Gera off her course toward the Enteral and Lacus felt shock and excitement at Kira's arrival. She should have known he was coming. She turned to see Kayla's eyes fade as a smile crept to the small girls face. Kayla must have seen something to make her know that Gera was there and that Kira was coming.

"You really thought I would let something happen to you?" Kira's face appeared on her screen, "never!"

* * *

"Yaro, we're backing you up, move in!" Yaro smiled as Murre Ramius appeared on his screen and the mobile suits of the archangel appeared. He nodded and looked toward the STING 2. The four barrels seemed to all be weak in and of themselves and he theorized they just needed to destroy those parts to make it dysfunctional for this battle. It wouldn't be like last time, there would be no time to repair it for sure and Liene would end today so all they needed was to stall.

"Alright," Yaro said to Murrue, "I'm going in on the first barrel, cover me! I'm going to transform into cannon mode, I need heavy cover if this is going to work!" Murrue nodded, she understood what exactly he was planning.

"Mu, Jacob," she said to her pilots and coincidentally her family, "move in around Yaro! We'll take out what we can, keep him protected. We're moving in as a unit! Let's go people!" The unit moved together, destroying enemy units and moving out of the STING 2's firing range to where they could inflict some damage. It was then that the machine fired again from two of the barells and one of the shots went beyond toward the PLANTs when it was intercepted by a ZAFT ship that sacrificed it's life to defend it's home.

"That was close," Yaro said angrily, "this thing needs to go down now!"

* * *

Meiko moved now faster, letting her memories of her training guide her as the puzzle was unlocked and she saw clearly that Liene knew what was happening around him and that he knew that she alone would figure out how to find him. She smiled as she saw the Drudgen and knew that's where Liene was. The arrangement of ships on the field was exactly like a training matrix she had practiced on as a child and the command ship in that matrix was found where the Drudgen was located now, far away in the back and well hidden. She dodged a lot of blasts from ships around her, but they were wary of hitting each other.

"You want to go further?" She heard a voice she recognized from her days in training and saw on her screen two pilots whom she had once trained by. Saru Nism and Mishe Leer moved toward the Phoenix, both determined to beat Meiko. Her seed exploded in the back of her mind and she read their formations like she was reading their training commands and dodged their first pass. She moved behind them quickly and fired at them. They dodged but she pulled out something, they did not expect as a large cannon caused an explosion from a nearby robotic that blocked them off for the second she needed to slam her machine into Saru's which caused it to misfire on Mishe. The two were so confused Meiko had time to aim her cannons at a nearby ships main weapons and engines and release shots from all her weapons at once, crippling the ship. She then backed on Mishe again causing his engines to sputter as she fired the camera off Saru's machine and moved with a blinding speed toward the Drudgen. She didn't have time for these petty games.

She fired on the robotics that surrounded her, taking most of them out by confusing them. Some accidentally hit each other and she smiled at it.

"I do want to go further," she said responding to Misha's last message and she smile cockily, "and no one's stopping me today. No one and nothing will stop me from this." She moved her machine at an even faster pace and destroyed the side of the Drudgen's hangar, moving in with the Phoenix and destroying every machine inside quickly. She landed her machine on what was left of it raising her head at the end of it and smiling to herself again as she locked her unit and lowered herself quickly.

As she expected guns fired on her but she drew two pistols killing everyone that stood in her way and making it out of the hangar faster than they knew what was happening. She was inside successfully and she would end this toady. This would not be a repeat of Mars but rather it would be what Mars should have been. Liene would face her like a man this time and he would fall.

"It ends here tonight," she whispered as she ran on through the base, once again recognizing the schematic from something she had seen as a child, everything was set up for her and this time she gladly walked in.

* * *

"So you just happen to have this schematic?" Ceveris asked Kiran whom seemed proud of himself as he pulled up the plans to the cannon ZAFT had built. The Minerva crew were all trying to figure out how to beat that thing but Kiran seemed confident that he knew the answer.

"I got it from ROW when we were at Mars," Kiran responded, "they must have stolen it from the PLANTs but they were unable to find the answers I found." Kiran then started tying in and exploring the images, "you see the way the ships built, it works best if the ship can't be infiltrated, but if we can get in there I can reprogram the machine to end it's nuclear surges and disarm it without any unnecessary large explosions, I have a feeling we'll get enough of those from that STING 2."

"I see," Ceveris responded staring at the route Kiran had pulled up as he recognized some of the weapons make. It was clear that whoever built this was not ZAFT, they were drawing on designs that ZAFT didn't have but Ceveris knew who had them. In this moment he saw that the weaponry matched that of what he had stolen from ROW many years ago and sold to those who still owned him. There was something going on beyond ROW and beyond everyone else today, the game was clearly changing and Jayley Lired was showing where her allegiances lied. He hid the knowledge of what he saw in his mind, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't as catastrophic as he thought it could be.

"Arthur," Meyrin said calling up her first in line, Arthur Trine, who had been by her side and with the Minerva since the beginning. He smiled at his captain.

"Yes Captain," he said saluting, he had watched her grow from bridge member to captain and he was proud of her.

"You are in command and you will be Captain if I don't return," Meyrin said grabbing her gun belt and strapping it on and turning back to Kiran, "I'm escorting Kiran in." Ceveris was shocked at this, Meyrin should be going and a captain should never leave their ships even if it was for this noble reason. Arthur nodded, obeying his captain without question.

"No Mey," Ceveris responded, "You're needed here, I can escort Kiran."

"You may come as well if you like Ceveris but no matter what you say I am going in," Meyrin replied with a stern look on her face, "I promised Lacus when she agreed to let Kiran come aboard that I would be personally responsible for him and I intend to protect him with my life if necessary. It's a duty I made to my leader and I won't back down now." Ceveris nodded, he understood where she was coming from.

"Well I'm going in with you," he replied as they all moved toward the mobile suits.

"Minerva back us up! Take that ship head on!" Meyrin said as they boarded and blasted off.

* * *

"Back off," Kira yelled to Gera as she tried to get by him again to get to the Eternal. She seemed uninterested in fighting him as she dodged his attacks and no matter how hard he tried to lock on to her weapons and weak points she seemed to be using his respect for life against him.

"No!" Gera responded angrily as she had to meet her goal, "I will destroy the Eternal and show Jayley I was worth it! I will show her! Then I will show the world that I was the best and that I can be better than even Meiko! I have to kill Meiko!" The rantings of this girl were insane but what Kira saw was a life that was destroyed by hatred and war. He saw her desperately struggling to prove herself based on the standards of worth that others had taught her for her entire life. She was wrong to assume that worth was gathered in who could kill the best or who could meet the demands of those who were wrong in every way but she was also lost to him as he knew that nothing he could say could change her.

"You're not going to hurt them!" Kira declared, "because you don't understand! You don't know what it's like to value human life!" His seed exploded in his mind as Lacus saw the machine begin to glow for a second, he was changing. Kira was beginning to feel the rush as suddenly his super seed was accessed but it closed just as fast. He began to understand the power that Meiko and Yaro bore and he began to see clearer.

He moved in a pattern of destruction and life at the same time, fighting off Gera's attacks and showing her that he could kill her if he wanted to. He brandished his weapons again holding onto the controls of his mobile suit and disarming the Black gundam slowly, piece by piece.

"No one should have to prove their worth through the death of others!" Kira yelled to her, "No one should even have the chance to kill! This ends today!" He then laid the final blows to her machine causing her to cry out in shock at how he had so easily trashed her mobile suit while still leaving her alive. He could have killed her for what she was planning on doing to his family but instead he left her to live and see that the world was changing because everything was changing.

"Lacus move the Eternal in!" Kira responded, "Back up the Tranquility, stay out of the range of that cannon and the STING 2." He now felt an urgency thanks to his connection with the super seed, "I have to find Meiko!" He blasted off toward the ORB forces leaving the Eternal shocked by what they saw. His power was clear but it had grown in a different way and Lacus smiled as she knew that Kira alone could tip the balance in this battle and that he would do everything he could to make sure that things ended right. She just prayed that it was enough.

* * *

"I'm done here!" Athrun yelled slicing off the head of the second twin unit angrily and shutting down it's main systems. He was tired of playing with this machine while everyone else was moving into action. He smiled at what was unfolding around him and hurried to join in. He rushed to where the tranquility was and joined in fighting off a ROW ship.

"Getting the hang of things out here Athrun?" He heard Yzaks voice and saw Dearka's unit with Yzaks.

"More like getting fed up with things out here!" Athrun responded, "these ROW units are more annoying than they are difficult to defeat! And they keep coming." Yzak nodded.

"Well don't get lazy you two," Dearka said joining in on the conversation, "There are plenty more where these came from!" They turned to see more ROW ships entering the battlefield from what seemed like nowhere. Athrun rolled his eyes, the sheer number of ROW units was impossible. This whole thing had to have been in works for years before this, this battle had been planned for a very long time.

* * *

Leyas moved around the corner of the large PLANT station. Her and Trey had driven their machine into the PLANTs earlier under the stealth of the mirage colloid and landed in the hangar. There was a wide alert out for them now that their mobile suit had been found but she didn't care, they had gotten in and they were moving faster than had been expected. They had to end Jayley's reign if nothing else. She held in her hands a flash drive that had the key for everything and they were in the top ZAFT communication tower, which she was sure she would be able to make the PLANTs all listen from. She would make them hear her side of the story and the side of her family.

"We're almost there," Leyas said to Trey when a gunshot was heard through the station and they turned to see guards coming. Leyas and Trey ducked turning the corner quickly as Trey pulled out a gun and turned to Leyas with shock. She needed to keep going. They were almost there, he saw the door from where he was and he pulled out a second gun handing it to her.

"Go!" Trey said to her, "I'll hold them off here!" Leyas nodded running up the stairs and Trey moved to fire at the guards that were clearly trying to advance. He saw Redemption guards on the incoming and what he didn't' expect he saw. Flay was moving with them and fighting. He moved in to join the action ducking behind a barrier and firing, killing one of the guards. Flay smiled cockily at him and turned toward the stairway affirming that she knew Leyas was gone.

"Good job so far," Flay said to Trey, "the rest is up to her, we just have to hold the fort down here!" Trey nodded firing once agian.

* * *

Jayley Lired was infuriated by the news she was getting. Not only was Gera down but it seemed Redemption and the Clyne faction had found a way into one area of the PLANTs that they shouldn't have a chance to get to. She was angrier than before as she exited her office and headed down to the PLANT council room. The council was clearly upset with her.

"We told you to regard them as allies Jayley," one of the council members said, "we are now dealing with the fallout of your actions. They have invaded us."

"We'll win this!" Jayley yelled at them, "I promise you all we will win this!"

"No Jayley," she turned to see Gryser Cerrian as the council members faded revealing them to be holograms, "I will win this one, you will loose." He held a gun to her and fired as she looked at him with shocked eyes. She had never expected him, the man who had taken her in and raised her to be the one behind her demise. She had done everything he ever asked until this day, and she had thought that in this moment she was getting close to having what she wanted but once again she was betrayed by the man who said that he would protect her forever. Her eyes filled with tears as she fell to her knees, staring at him with questioning eyes.

"Why?" she asked him, tears falling freely now, "I thought you loved me! You said you would be my father, that you would protect me. WHY?" He only smiled at her question as life left her and she fell dead to the ground.

"Because you were always a failure Jayley," he responded walking away as his own guards entered the room and he turned to them, "make it appear as suicide, then let Leyas win this round. After that bring me her." He then walked from the room with a confident smile. Things were working out to his advantage now.

* * *

"Minerva move in!" Kiran yelled as the large ship shot a positron blast through the side of the ZAFT ship, barely penetrating the heavy armor. Kiran smiled as he slashed through the side of the hangar flying in with no problem. Ceveris saw as the cannon fired again this time the blast burned right past the Minerva barely brushing the side and causing a series of small explosions on the ship.

"You sure you got this Minerva?" He asked as he left but no one responded so he took as a yes and went in. When he got inside Kiran and Meyrin had already dealt with the guards and were moving in. He floated after them quickly as he realized they had picked the perfect hangar. They were near to the terminal Kiran needed. They made it through the hallways quickly and he turned to see more guards that were not ZAFT soldiers. He quickly fired on a door which left them on the other side as it closed.

"Thanks," Meyrin said to him, "It's good to have you around."

"I love you Mey," he said to her quickly as his breathing increased at all the signs he was taking in. Kiran was at the terminal working already and working as fast as he could. Meyrin looked at him confused as to why he would bring this up now and the way that he did it.

"I love you too," she responded, still wearing her confused look.

"No matter what happens," Ceveris continued as he felt that he knew what was coming. He received a message on his watch that said what he was supposed to do and he was fighting it now. He had been sent on a mission to help the Minerva and until now that had not changed but he was beginning to see it clear, that those who owned him were not there to help the Minerva but rather there to see it destroyed.

* * *

"Come on, come on!" Leyas said opening up the computer terminals and making her way through. Lucky for her there was no one in that room, and that did not strike her as suspicious, everyone was out there on the battlefield. She quickly plugged in her drive, breathing hard as she kept hearing gunshots from below. She hoped Trey was still okay.

* * *

"I'm going in!" Yaro yelled as he fired his nuclear cannon at the first of the gun barrels on the STING 2 then quickly transformed. He followed the blast and shot every weapon he could into it at once. Once it cleared he saw some damage had been done but not enough. He moved back and shot again moving close and firing.

"You're going to fail," he saw the face on his screen was that of his biological father, it was John Liene mocking him now. That meant Meiko was not all the way in yet and Liene persisted on. "You are not one of them, you gutless coward. Your greatest strength is in your hatred and anger toward me, now use that; stop trying to be Uzumi Zala, you will never be him." Yaro tried to shut the voices out as he fought to fire on that machine. Mu and Jacob were handling all approaching units and the Archangel was backing them up, now all he had to do was take out this barrel. He shut off his radio but somehow Liene was still there on his screen.

"I'm not going to listen to anything you have to say!" Yaro responded with anger, "Kira Yamato is my father."

"But you will never be him either," Liene countered pulling out all the stops, "you are my son Yaro and you will always be my son, no matter how hard you fight it you have the same madness that drove me to victory time and time again. You just won't use it because if you do you fear what others will think of you. No Yaro, embrace who you are!" Yaro felt tears entering his eyes as he was fighting but the seed in his mind exploded and something inside him was changing.

"No Liene," Yaro responded firing more and more but it seemed his efforts were becoming futile.

* * *

Flay shot her gun at the ZAFT guard when something filled her thoughts. She knew what was happening now, Yaro was being attacked by Liene. It was the stage Liene would attack at and she knew something Yaro didn't. She had changed the Dreamer for him and she prayed that he realized his only way away from Liene was through his super seed.

* * *

"Listen to me boy!" Liene yelled now, "your a coward and a thief for you have stolen life time and time again. You are a murderer, no matter how you try to run from it that is the truth of everything."

"NO!" Yaro yelled again his super seed bursting forth as his mobile suit transformed again and a new system activated.

"Super seed light," the system voice said, "power up." Yaro felt everything around him, the entire battlefield as his thoughts were extended and he could hear so much more, he could see so much more. The super seed power flowed through him as he fired his weapons again, this time they glowed bright and blue with the color of his eyes and the cannon burst forth in flame. Yaro felt the burst of power flowing through him and he blasted away from the machine as the first barrel was destructing before him.

The Archangel crew watched in awe as one was down and now they had three more to go but Yaro's light was intensifying. He could see the pain in the battlefield, his family fighting for their lives over the entire thing. Everyone he loved and cared about was there, they were all putting their lives on the line and today he would protect them with the light of his seed.

* * *

"That's it!" Leyas yelled as she had the systems online. She grabbed the microphone in front of her and turned on the camera, her face was on every TV in the PLANTs and on the ZAFT ships. Today she was showing the world who she was and what lengths she would take to bring back right to the world and end the cycle that had been started by Jayley.

"Hello my fellow countrymen," she began, "for I was raised here in the PLANTs and among ZAFT; this is my home just as much as it is yours. For I am Leyas Yamato and I have returned, but fear not I seek no harm here for I love it here more than anywhere else in the world. I am here before you today as one of you for everything Jayley told you was a lie and a face that she put on to gain more power for herself. I was forced from my home when my mother was denounced by lies and my fathers name was tainted by a past that was misunderstood. No the people Jayley described were lies because she herself was a lie. She never sought to bring good to the PLANTs, only to fulfill some sort of vendetta she had against my mother." Leyas calmed down for a moment taking the time to breath and think about what she had to say next. The eyes of her nation were upon her in shock; for the child star they had watched leave them had returned and she bore the strength that her mother had carried years before when it was then needed.

"What I am here to say is," Leyas began again, "my mother and father are innocent but Jayley Lired is not. She was using all of us and for what I don't understand but I have all the evidence I need to prove to you that she was wrong." With that Leyas played the images of Jayley and ROW and everything that was proof. "She was working with ROW all along, but her motives were not theirs. She rather was working against my mother and against peace. I ask you people of the PLANTs, is this the leader you still want to follow? Is this the person you pledge your allegiance to? Because she lied to us all! What will you do now that you know the truth? WIll you stand with her or will you turn to the side of right and fight ROW alone; for they are the only enemy we have here today!"

* * *

Lacus was shocked at hearing her daughters voice as Waltfelt had played back what he was hearing on communications. Leyas had gone behind their backs and broke into the PLANTs, a risky move but everything she was saying was making a difference. The ZAFT units seemed to double their efforts against ROW and those who had been fighting the Clyne faction turned back to ROW, the battlefield once again united toward ROW and with Yaro's light glowing even brighter Lacus felt a warmth in her heart. Everything was changing toward the good.

"Move the Eternal on!" Lacus yelled, "keep fighting, it's not over yet."

"It's not," Kayla spoke up looking around the room, "it's so far from over."

* * *

"I got it!" Kiran said as he prepared to type in the final codes, he was close to stopping this thing then he head a gun cock and turned with Meyrin to see Ceveris pointing a gun at him.

"Stop," Ceveris said breathing hard as sweat poured down his face and he looked like there was a war going on inside him. Meyrin was shocked at what was happening and she stepped forward but he cocked his gun, "I don't want to hurt either of you! Trust me Mey, I love you and I don't want either of you hurt but I have to do this. This isn't up to me, just calm down and no one will get hurt." Kiran looked at him confused.

"What are you doing Ceveris?" Meyrin asked him socked as tears filled her eyes and she yelled at him now, "what the hell are you doing!" She drew her own gun but he shot it out of her hands causing her to cry out. Kiran only needed to touch the enter key now to finish but he didn't dare with Ceveris's gun pointing at him, the older pilot had been acting strange through the entire battle and now Kiran saw a side to him that he didn't understand and he didn't want to believe.

"Who's making you do this?" Kiran asked him angrily, "because you made damn sure you didn't give us a clue as to the danger of having you with us. Who the hell are you to turn on us now?" Ceveris shook his head now.

"You don't understand cause this is so much bigger than you kid," Ceveris said to him now getting angry and turning to Meyrin, "I love you Mey but I can't let Kiran finish this."

* * *

Yaro's light was intensifying but then it moved back, lessening as he moved with the archangel to fight the next barrel. Everyone around him was confused but in the confusion a ROW mobile suit came to attack him full on. It was a more advanced Gundam Unit.

"Yaro Yamato," Jurme Krey smiled as he happened upon a prize.

"Should I know you as well," Yaro said facing off with the unit in battle, he didn't have time for this. He had to get to the other barrel with the Archangel. It was then that Athrun flew in with Yzak.

"We'll take this Yaro!" Athrun said, "Go!" Yaro didn't need more invitation as he flew off the meet the Archangel.

* * *

"It's not your fault Kiran," Ceveris said to them, "this is so much bigger than us. There are people who are so much larger than all of us and if I don't do this they will kill you all!" Kiran looked at him shocked.

"Who are you working for Ceveris," Meyrin asked crying more now, "I trusted you when I knew better. Now tell me who?"

"I can't," Ceveris said as Kiran saw the door to the other room was being worked on, the guards would be here soon. He shot a look to Meyrin who was torn up but who had promised she as on Kiran's side through everything. Ceveris loved her but he was clearly torn by something. Kiran felt power rising in him and prayed it would be enough as his seed exploded in the back of his mind and he hit the last key flipping away as Ceveris's bullet fired. What Kiran didn't see was Meyrin moving as fast as she could. She screamed as the bullet sunk into her and Ceveris looked shocked. The wound was in the shoulder but it was enough to snap him out.

"Gryser Cerrian," Ceveris said out loud now seeing Meyrin in pain, "It's Gryser Cerrian." Kiran looked up now as the doors opened and the guards entered. He moved fast grabbing a gun and taking cover as shells rained toward him and not the others. It was clear now their target was him. Meyrin grabbed her gun and fired three shots taking cover. She hit three guards. Ceveris just stood there staring as his world was falling apart. He was always working for Cerrian but he was promised a good life if he obeyed.

"NO!" Ceveris yelled as madness filled his eyes and he fired at the guards, he killed four more of them but shots rained in his direction as bullets filled him and he fell down from the pain and shock of it all he looked toward Meyrin, "I never wanted it to come to this, I love you." He fell dead and Kiran cried out in anger for whatever had caused this to fall had torn them apart. He had finished his mission but there was a cost. He could see Meyrin as she cried out in anger, for she had lost her heart today and this time it was worse than before. She was barely holding on and he knew he had to get out of here soon. He looked for a way of escape frantically.

* * *

She walked through the open doors, seeing her destination before her as the two doors closed behind her and she didn't care. She knew what was happening out there and she knew that everything was because of the man before her. Tears filled her eyes as she knew the cost out there would be heavy because she had failed before. John Liene's back was turned to her as her head was down to the ground and she walked down the center of the room. He was staring out the window at the battlefield before him, staring and waiting for her. He turned as he knew she had arrived and he smiled to see her there, finally. There were no weapons in her hands, only at her sides. There was just that deep anger in her eyes and the depths of her hatred and sorrow over everything that he had done and what she had to do to end it.

"You've arrived," he said completely facing her now, "as I expected. You could have ended this battle out there and looked to a future one to end me but I see you have realized that it is your destiny to be here now." She nodded to his words.

"I never understood," she responded, "there was so much you lied about and so many things you did to destroy me but it always made me stronger and in the end it brought us here. Who are you really John Liene and why is it you delight in bringing so much pain into this world? How could any one person do what you have done and still live with himself? Tell me?" At this Liene's expression softened, for she was searching for his humanity. The goodness of Kira Yamato had filled her now.

"I was born to this cruel world as you were Meiko Virea," Liene responded to her, "and as you do now, I wanted to see it changed but I have changed because of my obsession. I've grown into a madman, hardened by everything; so much so I can't even see why anyone would continue to hope for a brighter future but I've always believed one was possible if humanity were to start over knowing everything we know now." He paused for a moment turning back to the window, "cause we have caused so much death, I don't know if humanity even deserves a chance anymore, but I know you disagree with me."

"I do," Meiko declared her hand now on her gun.

"Then you must realize that you and I are the same in so many ways," he said to her, "For we have both been the cause of death. You by my will in the beginning, but now you fight on your own accord using the skills I taught you." He breathed in, "I took you in, the child of Kira Yamato. I took you in when you had no one, in the intent of keeping you safe but that changed. I saw what I had to do, so I turned you into a weapon to end everything. To bring everything down." She looked down remembering everything that she had done as a child.

"I sought to tear the whole world down and recreate it," he continued, "but I was never alone in this. What you understand is who I am, what you don't understand is what is out there as well Meiko. You think you can win here and bring peace now but it's just the beginning of sorrows. Even if the darkness fades and light comes again, everything I did was to wipe out the very evil that you have prevented me from destroying. For there is someone out there who has been behind every war and heartache for a very long time, and he is the evil that you will have to face when this ends because mark my words Meiko Virea you may appear to win here today and your victory may be sung from the highest hills but you've already lost! Because you chose to defy me and leave ROW in order to be a part of those idiots in Redemption you have failed to see what I trained you for! ROW is evil but it's evil went to one extent, to destroy war and all factions who would seek it including the one led by Gryser Cerrian!"

She had heard the name before, but now she stood shocked staring down at the man she should not hesitate to kill but she was unable to move at the sound of the name before her.

* * *

**i hope you an forgive me the lower quality of this chapter. I was trying to cram so much into it that I kept getting confused as to what part I had already done and what was coming next, it was a battle to continue this battle! :D **

**So I'm not going to be describing any mobile suits, I'm kinda bad at it and haven't done it in awhile. I'm tired now. I spent the past four hours pouring my all into this chapter.**

**SO please review, I have three reviewers now so I'm not convinced very many people care about the end of this story and I am tempted to go on another hiatus so let me know if you want more REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**

**-Winterchill**


	50. Unbroken

**Phase 48: Unbroken**

* * *

Liene stood in front of Meiko, confessing his madness and his sins but now he thought back to what led him here. He was John Trien, son of Melran Trien, a man who sought to make a difference and a man whose life was ended after which Liene changed his last name to Pri. John Pri saw so much bad in the world and he had rejected it as Yaro did but so many things changed him, so many dark things.

_John Pri smiled as he realized his discovery in the realm of genetics could be the cure to a great many ailments. He had been working for months at a genetic research lab in space and just moved to Eurasia to present his research. He had been working for many of those who created coordinators for years and he had been working to understand the complexity of genetics and the existence of certain genetic factors. John Pri smiled as he saw on his screen the isolated section of DNA he had been trying to find for years, a piece inside every human that seemed to be getting stronger in a certain bloodline, it was the Seed factor. Today was the day when he would present it to the Eurasian nation in hopes to get a grant to study it further and to harness it's power to bring about a brighter future where humanity could unite for a common cause of bettering the world. _

_"You've been pouring over that for the past year, it's not going to disappear John," His wife said kindly as she entered the room, he turned to see Labiella looking very beautiful. She had just born him his second child, a baby named Ralen who he knew would make him proud. The child in fact was one of his first successful experiments, as he and his wife both agreed to try and increase the seeds power within their second child to see what abilities could be formed from it. His son was born with a striking resemblance to his mother with his dark hair and blue eyes._

_"I'm not worried about that Labiella," he said with a smile, "I'm just hoping that what we did will give our son a brighter future." She laughed at this as she walked closer to him._

_"You have ensured his future with this," she said to him putting a hand on his shoulder, "Now Ralen will be strong enough to make a difference and to be whoever he chooses. In this I know that we were right." John nodded taking her hand to kiss it._

_"You're right," he said to her._

_Everything seemed so promising then but the truth was he never got the chance to present his life's work, for someone else had been watching his progress and waiting for him to use everything he did, just waiting._

_"The infamous John Trien," John turned from his work to see a man he did not recognize enter with a woman and another man. John looked at the clock, he was up late thinking about his presentation the next day and he knew his wife would come looking for him soon and now he was surprised to see others in his lab; others that knew his true name._

_"Yes," John Pri responded with a heavy heart, "but it's been a long time since I've used that name. If you are blue cosmos I do not seek to cause any problems, I am just a natural like you looking to better the world through science." The man laughed at the things he said and walked toward him looking at the computer screens with admiration, it was in that moment John Pri thought he had an odd look to him._

_"I am not from blue cosmos," the man responded with a voice that made John seem like he could be trusted, "no, but they might answer to me if they could talk to me. Alas I keep them at arms length." This John did not understand. "They are misguided of course, these advancements of science are not to be rejected as abominations but rather embraced as ways to bring about a better world, that is my interest in you John, not to stop you but to use what you have discovered." John looked at him confused, his research was not complete but rather in an odd stage where he was still unsure about it. His son was his first trial and they would not know for many years if he had been successful or not. How could this person come with suck a cocky attitude and act as if John Pri had already succeeded. _

_"Who are you?" John asked him and the man turned for a second._

_"I am like you," the man responded, "sorry I didn't introduce myself. My name is Gryser Cerrian, the founder of every major government in the world in a way. I can guarantee your funding tomorrow if you listen to everything I have to say."_

_"Go on then," John responded not really understanding what the man was saying, but he was wary about what he was hearing._

_"Do you ever wonder why wars start John?" The man asked and John just stared, "they start when the world needs a change, and when things are at a breaking point. I come from a family that for hundreds of years have overseen this world and it's breaking points, starting wars to clear things up and ending them at will. We are responsible for some of the greatest military leaders, scientists and politicians to ever be raised up, all in the name of keeping this world balanced. It is a great art but it seems we are nearing another breaking point and there will be war again but my family has lost it's influences in the world and I am unable to intervene. In this war we will need men with certain talents to prevent other men from making mistakes that will end everything, the balance of power must be restored in order to protect mankind from itself." John did not like the sound of what he was hearing from this man, he wasn't sure he trusted him._

_"Then why are you telling me this?" John asked him. It was an odd thing to be hearing from someone he had only just met and someone who was claiming he could help._

_"Because you are a vital piece in preventing some certain individuals from causing chaos," Cerrian said to him, "it seems that I can not intervene in this war as I would have years ago. My power is waning and I no longer posses the weight I used to, I need you to help me create an army of soldiers that will give me the power to put things back in their proper place before the entire world ends." John knew at that moment he was dealing with a madman and that he shouldn't help him._

_"And what makes you so sure that I would help you?" John responded, "you see I don't think anyone in the world should possess the power you claim to have had in the past, and my science wasn't created to make super soldiers. Hell I don't even know if it will work." Cerrian seemed to laugh it off what he said._

_"Come now John," He continued, "we both know that's not true, why else would you have tested it on your own flesh and blood? You must be certain that it will come to something great if you put as much faith in it to place your own child in it's bind." This caused John's eyes to darken, something about this man was wrong. He knew too much and the look in his eyes was dark, if what he said was true he was seeking to control humanity and that alone was not to be born. John make a certain vow in his mind at the moment not to fall into this trap. _

_"You can't force me to do anything," he responded angrily, "you don't have an army at your disposal." Cerrians eyes darkened now._

_"Careful," Cerrian responded, "you wouldn't want to see things fall apart would you? If you don't help me this world may end and chaos will ensue for even now there are those in the PLANTs seeking to bring this world into greater harm. You can not seriously refuse to help me." John shook his head._

_"And you can't seriously think that I am not going to see past your guise of helping the world," John almost yelled with anger, "you're acting arrogant which is the first sign, you're lusting for power to help yourself gain not to help this world. I will have no part in your madness." At this point both of Cerrian's guards drew guns._

_"You better think about what it is you are saying," Cerrian said, "think carefully about your wife and sons and the future you want them to have. Think about your own life and the past you have had. Perhaps if everything was in balance then and I had the power I needed your father would not have been murdered by some of the same people I am trying to stop. Think hard Trien, you're not going to walk out on this are you?"_

John Liene remembered that day well, his wife and had entered, a battle had ensued and she was killed along with his eldest son, that moment broke him but in the end he made it out with something more important. His life's work in the form of a small child, Ralen who would grow to be Yaro Yamato with a power the boy did not even understand. For Yaro's super seed did not come from natural growth as Meiko's did but rather from the tampering of his father. The events drove Liene mad with anger, that such a force could exist in the world and that people could become as powerful and as dark as Cerrian. He vowed that day to used whatever means he had to end it and he gained power in order to challenge it and destroy everything he saw in the world that was dark. Innocent lives were taken in the fray but the greater good was what he served in this.

"Please Meiko," Liene said, "Cerrian killed all my family except Yaro whom I saved. He is mad and cruel with a lust for power I didn't understand then but I have seen over and over again since then. Everything I did was to stop him, listen to me."

* * *

"The boy finished sir," one of his men said as Cerrian stared out to the battlefield with darkened eyes. This was was Liene had wanted, somehow he knew that Liene had some reason for doing this. What it was Cerrian did not understand, but he knew that he would not be drawn into open battle by it. Jayley had near betrayed him with her actions and she had paid for it with her life. Now Kiran had destroyed the weapon Jayley had revealed but that was not what concerned Cerrian.

"It's a small matter," Cerrian responded with an edge to his voice, "let the rest of this run its course." For he was going to watch the world recover from this, he would make sure that everything was peaceful again and under his control. He just needed a few more pieces.

* * *

The name hung between them as Meiko breathed in and more memories came to her, it was something she had failed to see earlier and as she saw Liene now she realized he was telling her the truth. He was telling her everything he had denied her for so long. He had sunk to the deepest depths of darkness in order to bring the world back around and in the process his soul was destroyed. Tears filled her eyes as she realized his fate and felt her hatred from him change to anger for how everything went down. He didn't have to do the things he did and all his careful plans unraveled while he desperately tried to pull them together again. He fought his enemies using trickery and trying to draw Cerrian out but in the end the world rose up against him. He thought through it now as well but he realized it wasn't in vain, for before him was the hope the world had and though he had failed to create her as a weapon she had become strong anyway.

"So much death?" Meiko questioned, "so much pain. Uzumi, everything else that you did. You're saying you did it all so that war could end forever. That is what you always said to me but I couldn't see it. You made an error John Liene, a huge one. Did you not see how you could have made a larger difference by making allies of us all instead of assaulting us as you did." Liene smiled at her words, for he knew all along that there was probably another way, it was his anger that made him do the things he did.

"I have always known that," he responded, "but I fought to draw Cerrian out. I did cause pain and death and I killed so many. I invaded nations, brought in civil wars and gained power as I went and I got Cerrians attention because he sent his agents out against me multiple times. Jayley Lired, Ceveris Matthews, Meyor Are and in the beginning Daniel Hannis." She was surprised to hear Daniel's name in the list as she watched his face change, "I forgot he was your friend." Liene smiled, "cause you had no idea that he was working for Cerrian to get you out of ROW." She winced at what she heard now but the pieces fit. Jayley stepped out of bounds of ROW and retained her protection. Ceveris appeared when he was needed to save forces that would defeat ROW.

"But what about the war with the PLANTs?" Meiko continued, "how do you explain that error? Ceveris was fighting against Jayley in that war, there are too many gaps in what you are saying." He smiled and nodded as he understood.

"That was another ploy to bring you out," Liene said, "Cerrian realized you were alive and wanted to find out if you were still formidable. He stole one of my rejected pilots, Gera and trained her to fight Yaro in hopes you were watching. He even swayed Mike to betray me enough to help Jayley further her plans. Ceveris was just in play to get information on ORB's moves." She still looked at him with doubts, "I learned of the various agents only recently, right before I declared war on the world to draw him out but it seems that move failed as well. He is watching everything unfold now and interfering." Meiko shook her head stepping back.

"And you've know of this danger for so long!" she yelled now and protested, "you fought me when you all along knew who I was! You know everything about me, that all you had to do was tell me the truth! Liene you could have continued the peace yet you chose to cause so much darkness! No matter what reasons you still let yourself do these things!" He looked to the ground now, he understood that she could not stand the sight of him, for his hands were covered in the blood of so many.

"I knew your hatred," Liene responded to her anger, "you wanted me dead. Would you have listened to anything I had to say before? I had to tell you something true so that you would be reunited with your family and in a place where you were more stable, that is what Mars was about. Now here today I beseech you as the man who raised you to listen to me this once."

"But you tried to kill me!" She yelled at him, "you shot me in the back when I left the STING! You set a trap for Yaro and I on Mars!" He winced at the other incident.

"I was angry and I was unable to see clearly," he offered another apology, "there is a madness inside of me that did many things I am ashamed of, but I ask you to see past that to what I am offering you now, a truth you did not understand before. The whole truth of everything you never saw." She breathed in just staring at him, a truth she did not understand before. Cerrian's existence. There was no lie in John Liene's eyes and though she didn't understand it she knew she believed him and though it didn't change her hate for him she had to admit in her heart that she may now fail at the task she set out to do. For how could she kill John Liene now when she knew she needed more than what he had just given her.

* * *

Kiran held his breath as he searched for an out, but the guards were not wearing ZAFT uniforms so he wasn't sure how reasoning with them would work. He looked at Meyrin who was very broken by the picture before her, and Ceveris's body lay a little farther away. Kiran breathed in taking his gun in hand and checking his ammo, there was only so much more he could do if Meyrin didn't take the lead here. He had disarmed the weapon but they were very close to death at this point and Ceveris's sudden shift had not helped the situation. Still the name echoed in Kiran's thoughts, Gryser Cerrian.

"Meyrin," he said trying to get her attention as he ducked lower hearing more shots toward him. She snapped at his voice and looked at the hopeless situation before her, it wasn't over and she swore Kiran would be protected, that she would give her life for him. She knew what was needed now to get him out of there.

* * *

Yaro swirled down as he moved in with the archangel, they were going on a dangerous route down toward the next cannon and he protected the ship as his eyes continued to glow with the super seed. He moved swiftly but also kept in mind that the ship was much slower than he would be and he needed the backup of Mu and Jacob as well to move his machine in at it's strongest range. He watched the battlefield as he fought, trying to see ways to improve upon their strategy. Meiko was nowhere to be seen but he trusted whatever it was she was doing now was important enough to leave the whole battlefield to run the way it was now.

"Moving into the second barrel," Murrue said loudly on his speakers and those of all forces who were moving to aid the group, "Keep on top of yourselves and defend Yaro!" It was then that she realized something, "move out of range everyone!" She shouted her last orders as the three remaining barrels of the cannon fired large shots. Yaro's eyes followed them as one headed toward the ZAFT cannon but missed taking out many ships on the way, one of them being the Minerva! Horror filled his eyes.

"The Minerva is down!" he yelled out to the Archangel in shock, "I repeat the Minerva is down!" Murrue looked in the direction surprised to see the ZAFT cannon had just moved out of range but it was true the Minerva had been engaging that cannon and they were shot down. Meyrin would have been aboard that ship and many other comrades. She stood up and held her hand to her forehead in salute and many of her crew followed her.

"Take out the next barrel, we have to stop this thing!" Murrue ordered as anger filled her now.

"I'm going in!" Yaro affirmed as he flew his mobile suit closer and warned others to remain out of it's range. He prepared to fire on it when someone's voice came over his radio, it was Jacob.

"Look there!" Jacob declared pointing to the first barrel as it suddenly transformed and a new barrel appeared in the place of the one Yaro had trashed. Yaro's eyes widened as did everyone else's as that last barrel shot alone toward the battlefield and hit many ships along it's way. Yaro shook his head trying to figure everything out now, if ROW could just replace their parts at an instant everything they were doing would be cancelled out. He could destroy as many as possible and still not make much of a dent. He had to figure out how they were replacing them, he needed Kiran but the courage was nowhere to be seen. Surely it had not been shot down, he was sure he would have heard of it. With a little work of his computer he located the machine inside the large ZAFT cannon ship. So Kiran was alive it seemed.

With that in mind Yaro turned back to the Cannon he was working on. Just because these things could come back did not mean that he should stop working on them.

"Don't let it get you down!" Yaro declared angrily his seed growing brighter as he perceived many things, "they will have to run out sometime!" WIth that he approached the next barrel and transformed his mobile suit firing a large beam that glowed bright blue.

In the midst of his super seed his perceptions became even stronger toward the one he loved now, Meiko Virea was still strong but now he saw something he knew that even she didn't see. He quickly focused his mind again on the barrel, one more blast should do the trick.

* * *

Lacus stared out into the battlefield watching things turning the other direction. ROW had produced backup ships and were coming in strong now, she herself was ready to make a move, Leyas had laid the ground work and today she realized that she had to return. She turned to Waltfeld and then back to the battlefield, he was capable enough to handle this now.

"I'm taking Kayla with me," She said to him as she looked toward the PLANTs, "The council will be in disarray after what has just been revealed. The ZAFT forces need guidance that they can not give. I'm going home today, and I'm taking my place as chairwoman. My term's still not up!" She stood up as her seed ignited in her mind and Waltfeld nodded, he knew that this was something she could handle and she would take guards with her.

"Shiho will guide your shuttle as well as Shinn," Waltfeld said to her, "He's coming from the tranquility." Lacus nodded, she knew he had just dropped Lunamaria off as she wasn't feeling well.

"Good," Lacus said to him, "protect the ship Waltfeld, you've always been a loyal friend." He nodded.

"Just make sure you handle yourself well in there," he responded, "I have seen you command a room like no other, now get going!" She smiled as she turned to exit the bridge and Waltfeld issued orders on how to proceed closer to the PLANTs.

* * *

Kira flew through the ROW ships and dodged many shots that came from them. His seed was brighter than he had ever seen and his mind was shaper than ever before. He realized the plain truth that he had broken his super seed for the first time and he was unsure how to use it and he knew it would take time to grasp but he was ready to start learning. It started today as he saw through the minds of many, traversing the battlefield searching for his daughter. He saw Leyas in the control room, he saw Lacus leaving the Eternal and he saw many other things but his own daughter's mind was hidden from him. He thought back to the beginning of everything.

He was captured by ROW earlier in the year when Lacus had been forced to flee the PLANTs, it was his first mistake leaving her alone but he was trying to figure out what had been going on around them. There were so many unexplained things in the world and the tips he was getting were helping him through. Somehow through it all a vision of his mother helped him see clearly, he didn't understand then but he did now. She was telling him of his family and the danger his wife and children were in as well as the darkness Meiko was in. Since he didn't have any knowledge of who Meiko was for so long he had never figured out what she meant when she said even then one was lost in the darkness, but now he saw it clearly. He had to protect her, not just because it was his duty as her father but because the world needed her beyond today. He didn't know what evil things Liene might have planned for her and he never understood her willingness to walk into his traps but he knew that somehow something was telling him to get to her as quickly as he could.

"Meiko," he said her name searching through his mind, "where are you?" It was then that the path became clear to him, where she was and he saw briefly through her tear filled eyes as she spoke to John Liene not hostilely as he expected. The Image faded but it was clear to him what ship she was in and that the danger may not be immediate but it was real and present so he changed his course heading to where she was and fighting with anger to get to here before everything changed around them.

* * *

Kiran looked up holding onto his gun but Meyrin sprung into action moving from her barrier and firing into the group of guards, her anger and hatred became clear as she killed three instantly. They scattered as Yaro moved with his seed breaking in his mind once again and he shot down another two. Meyrin was much faster though, no matter what shots came for her she was killing. It was then that a shot hit her arm, another her leg but she fired again as another shot hit her chest she was on her knees but she held her good arm and fired two more shots.

"Kiran get out!" She yelled to him with the strength she had left, "get out of here." His eyes filled with horror at the sight before him as two more shots hit Meyrin and she fell still to the ground. Tears filled his eyes and anger captures his soul.

"NO!" He yelled rushing forward not back and he shot killing another another. He fired and fired with his seed ignited and the quickness of anger fueling his blood they couldn't hit him. He launched himself into a flip over the barriers and faced the three remaining guards killing two of them quickly as the third one dropped his weapons and stumbled back Kiran held his gun to the man who was even more obviously not ZAFT.

"Who sent you?" Kiran demanded shooting the man in the arm. The man cried out.

"I don't know anything," the man said begging for mercy, "please don't kill me, I'm under orders. I have a family!" Kiran fired again this time into his leg causing him to cry out again.

"I'm asking you again," Kiran declared with anger, "who sent you!"

"It was Cerrian," the man responded, "we're here to keep peace not to fight, but it's Cerrian! He's after you and your sister Leyas, he wants you for some project that's all I know! Please don't kill me." But the man's begging cries were unheard as Kiran unloaded his gun by firing all his remaining shots into the man. He turned away and looked toward the hangar with anger. His innocence was lost today, his sister was in danger and whoever they were also were coming for him, he had to get back onto the battlefield before that happened. He felt warm tears in his eyes and saw the blood on his hands from everything. He also saw the bodies of Meyrin and Ceveris, his comrades whose lives had been cut short today.

He leaned down to Meyrin and too her hand with one of his and saluted her with the other letting himself cry. She was the one who let him fight in a mobile suit first, his captain who always believed in him when others doubted his age. She was someone he counted on, today lost in the fray of a deadly battlefield. He wanted to just sit there and cry because also the man who trained him had been torn and conflicted in death because of this Cerrian.

For the first time Kiran saw the world clearly and it was darker than he had feared, for everything they were fighting against was not as it seemed. There were so many things in the world he knew now that he didn't understand but in this moment he vowed himself that he would fight them off. He wasn't going to stand down and let this injustice continue. When this was over and ROW was finished he knew that it wasn't going to end, he would make sure that everything fell back into place. He had spilled blood today and with that act he had changed, from boy to man and now he was a true solider.

* * *

Lunamaria's breath was short as the doctors were all around her on the Tranquility. They were monitoring as she nearly collapsed leaving the Impulse behind, she knew something was wrong as her heartbeat was irregular and she cried out in pain once again.

"We're loosing the fetal heartbeat," one of the nurses said causing Lunamaria to panic. She had just discovered she was 3 months pregnant two weeks before and it was happy news she had hidden from Shinn so that she could fight, now it seemed like such a stupid idea. She didn't want to loose her child, she wanted to have a family with the man she loved. She felt tears in her eyes as the idea of loosing that seemed so foreign and horrible.

"Please," she said desperately to the doctors, "please help me! Save my child!" The doctors were around her and she was trying to calm herself but watching the monitors was terrible and she knew they would sedate her soon if she didn't calm down.

* * *

Shinn blasted out onto the battlefield, the doctors were with Luna now and he would have to protect her ship until they determined how she was doing. He flew around the Tranquility destroying machines as he went clearing them of danger and he turned to survey the battlefield. As long as the STING 2 had it's cannon working there was huge danger, it seemed that the ZAFT cannon was successfully disabled before the Minerva went down but there was no sign of Kiran's machine which meant he was still inside and he had not called for help so Shinn assumed that he was alright.

On the other hand Virea had disappeared completely earlier and had not shown up since. The Phoenix had not been destroyed or else everyone would have noticed it, he wondered what she could be doing that was taking so long. She seemed to carry the weight of the world on her shoulders when in Shinn's opinion she needed to lighten up and realize that everyone else was just as concerned about the world as she was and that they would all fight to protect it as she did. He rolled his eyes at the thought of her doing everything alone. He noticed Yaro was having trouble keeping the barrels of the cannons down and watched in awe as he destroyed on and it replaced itself. Whatever game ROW was playing they came to win. The lines of ROW seemed thicker than earlier yet the world forces lines were thinning out as time went on. Something was amiss that he knew he didn't understand, he only hoped that they could figure it out before they lost this battle.

* * *

Jurme Krey sat back in his mobile suit as the Truth fought him, he knew that what he was doing here was utterly pointless in the scheme of things since John Liene was not fighting himself. From what Jurme gathered Liene was doing important work with Meiko Virea, who had once again rushed into the ships of her once home.

"Give me all you got!" Jurme said to the machine in front of him, he wanted to fight Yaro Yamato but it seemed the Dreamer had eluded him and he was against Athrun Zala instead, this was a fight he wasn't going to win and he knew that. Athrun was the better pilot and was probably one of the best in the world but Jurme knew at this stage he was sent to weary and not to kill, which would have been sad to anyone on the world's side, but in ROW's ranks each person understood their place and their goal. His place was here and his goal was to be disabled and not killed. If the world survived this he wanted to see everything change as Liene promised it would, for he knew that no matter how they tried to recover the people of the world were already devastated by this moment and by the things that had already happened.

It was in the fight that the Truth suddenly backed off and another Clyne faction mobile suit took its place as Dearka stepped up taking over for Athrun.

"This is just plain annoying," Athrun had complained to Dearka, "we need to help Yaro get that ship down!" Dearka destroyed the robotic he had been fighting and told Athrun to go as he took Athrun's place to fight the gundam before him, it was a ROW style one which meant it had quite a few weapons and a lot of secret new advancements but the pilot was lacking, given time he would give out completely.

* * *

"So you keep saying," she spoke bitterly as her memories were all there, Meiko Virea was fully aware of everything now, "you keep saying you killed so many times to save the lives of so many, but you're still wrong. No matter what your reasons where what you did was still wrong John Liene, you can't tell me now that your intentions change everything that I mean to do and everything that I am supposed to do." Her gun was tight in her hand as she was aware, "please tell me that you can change that? Give me back my life, give me back Uzumi, give me back everything that should have been for I am only one of many lives you have destroyed. I want my life back, I'm tired of this! I'm tired of the fight and the road that leads to more and more destruction."

"You don't see Meiko that even if it hadn't had been me someone else would have claimed you!" He declared, "you had a destiny the moment you were born and if I hadn't trained you then you still would have ended up fighting because it's who you are!" She looked at him doubtfully, she didn't believe that Destiny's were set in stone but rather that they were shaped and formed by a person's choices but the way Liene seemed to speak now made her realize he believes she was predestined to be this person she was now. He continued on that note, "I never believed in anything till I heard the prophecy of your birth and life then I saw it unfold before me Meiko. It was said you would be conceived in vengeance and hatred, born and raised in darkness then destroyed by your own inner divisions but in the end you would rise again and destroy the bonds that hold us. That's who Cerrian is, the bonds that hold us! You have to stop him!" She saw that Liene really believed everything he was saying but she didn't understand where this kind of prophecy could come from, it was too contrived and cryptic. She felt the gun slip from her hands and drop to the ground as she was overcome.

"I believe you," she said to him, it was all to crazy now to be contrived. Liene was a madman but his imagination could only bring him so far in this, Cerrian was the real enemy all the time and Liene twisted the world to bring out a force strong enough to fight and destroy him. That meant all along everything that happened was all part of a plan that was too shocking for her to take in but she wanted to hear the whole story before she just gave in now. This battle was meant to draw Cerrian out and perhaps it had, in that instance she wanted him destroyed.

"Cerrian is here," Liene said as if reading her thoughts, "he is influencing events as we speak and I know you understand that much." She nodded.

"How do we stop him?" she asked now, she was all into this and thought she felt as though Liene deserved death she needed him to divulge what he knew first. Vengeance took a back seat to ending the pointless war in front of her, Liene would get what was coming to him at some point but she determined now that it wouldn't be from her.

* * *

Kiran blasted out of the large ship that he had confirmed was not a ZAFT ship but rather one that was completely different. Whatever game was being played here there was someone else on this battlefield messing with them and he had purpose in his mind now. Someone was after Leyas and he had to find her and stop them. He turned about in the battlefield searching for Leyas and Trey's dual mobile suit. After that message he assumed she would be out soon but there was no sign of them, they may have run into trouble inside. His only hope was to ask Redemption forces which PLANT they had gone into and try to locate their signal to send them a message.

Kiran entered a fight with a ROW machine that he knew was run by a human. He quickly twisted around it and shot a vulnerable part in the back then drew his beam saber and sliced off it's cameras before flying toward the Redemption line which was looking weaker than the last time he saw it. On his way he was met by another swarm of robotic units that aggravated him now. There had already been too much lost today and he would not tolerate anymore.

"Get out of my way!" He yelled as his seed continued driving him toward his goal.

* * *

Leyas turned off the broadcasting instruments as she heard continued guns going off down the stairs below the room. She knew it was not safe to leave yet or else Trey would have come for her, so she searched her person for weapons but realized she left her gun with Trey. Not that it would have been much use, she was a lousy shot. Her father had declined to teach her so she had tried to teach herself but to no avail.

She felt now as if she should have one on her for some reason, something made her feel as though something was terribly wrong around her as she turned about the room searching for some signs of danger but it seemed nothing when she suddenly turned and came face to face with a man that held a gun toward her. Her first instinct was to scream but she felt consciousness leave her as someone grabbed her from behind and held a cloth to her face. She struggled for a second before everything went black and the men took her from the room.

* * *

"Watch out!" Trey yelled as Flay moved quickly but not quick enough as a bullet sunk deep into her arm and she crashed behind cover reeling from shock. Trey looked around firing again to try and take out what seemed to be like a few more guards left. They were almost there and then he could bring Leyas back out. Hopefully she got through the system and got the word out, Jayley was denounced today and would never be a threat again if everything went smoothly.

"Go Gern!" Flay yelled to one of her guards as he moved in with his guns firing and killing two of the guards, Trey followed taking down another one and moving over the barrier that was in front of him to another area of cover. That last move seemed to be it as the remaining guards fled the area leaving Trey shocked and ready for more but there was nothing else. They must have been tired of getting shot down her, Trey knew that in that situation they were more uncommitted than the Redemption group was. He walked over to Flay as he knew Meiko would not be very happy with him if he didn't take care of her mother out here.

"You alright," he asked her and she smiled as she breathed hard.

"It'll mend," Flay responded shaking her head, "but we have to get out of here before they come back." They turned toward the stairs and began to move up toward where Leyas was since she didn't come down immediately.

* * *

Kira flew his machine into the side of the massive ROW ship with his eyes still glowing, but much fainter now that he had reached his destination. He knew Meiko was inside he and he saw the proof with the locked Phoenix sitting before him. He quickly locked his machine and got down. There were dead guards in a trail leading out of the hangar and he also realized this was Meiko's work. No matter who she was he had to realize death wasn't as big to her after being raised in ROW; the way she viewed these people was with more hatred than the rest of them after what they had done to her.

He couldn't shake the feeling of danger or the image of Meiko reasoning with John Liene, everything seemed out of the ordinary and something was wrong here.

* * *

"What you need to know Meiko is not so much how to kill him," Liene said to her now that he realized she truly believed him. It was his greatest achievement now before him, the weapon who still had a heart to listen and he knew now that he had succeeded in everything he set out to do years before. Meiko was ready for her next task and he knew that she would not disappoint in righting the world. "For you Meiko will be able to do whatever you set out to." She nodded.

"I will do what it takes," she replied, "but there is no Redemption for the things you have done, you will answer to the world Liene. That is the deal I make with you now, I will do what you want if you will take responsibility for what you've done." He expected this hitch up, she was not one to just let things slide, he had hurt her too badly for that. He had taken her childhood, her life, her freedom, her will, and then he had taken the life of her best friend and he continued after that to torment her till he drove her into the power that she needed to fight now. He had succeeded in pushing the Phoenix to true greatness and he was satisfied with knowing that he had finished. She was right, there was no redemption for him but it no longer mattered.

"Very well Meiko" he conceded, "I will answer to the world. Cerrian is…" his words didn't finish as Meiko's danger sense spiked and a gunshot sunk into Lienes abdomen. Meiko spun around drawing a gun, flipping and firing all in a sweep of motion her bullets rained into the person who had fired the shots and Meiko's eyes widened as she saw Gera collapse to the ground, firing one last time into Liene's chest right before Meiko's bullets hit her.

"I did it for the world," Gera spoke to Meiko as breath left her. Anger filled Meiko as she turned rushing to Liene as he fell to the ground. She had him in her arms and she knew now he needed to give her the information or else everything was for nothing.

"Just hold on Liene," she said to him trying to bring up her super seed to hold his life in place but nothing was happening so she spoke to him urgently, "Liene you need to give me the information now, please Liene! I need to find Cerrian!" At that moment Kira entered with a shocked face at the sight before him. Meiko was crying over the dying form of John Liene and Gera lay dead nearby.

"Meiko," Liene said to her, "the answer is here," he put a small disk in her hands, "use it for the world. Your redemption is complete, now win me mine!" She let out a cry of anger now, he was supposed to answer to the world, everything made sense now. Cerrian's claws were in everything and he knew that Liene was going to give him away to the Phoenix, what he didn't count on was Meiko being as angry as she was now over Liene's death. This would not end the battle, she knew Liene was not controlling things out there but he had handed that to someone else. No the battle would end when Cerrian went down. Her eyes darkened now as she looked up and she knew the path before her, for it was one that she knew would lead her to the end of this and she would end it before she lost anything more.

* * *

"I'm home," Lacus said as she burst through the doors of the council camber with her guards fanning out from behind her and Kayla stepping beside her. The Enter PLANT council turned in shock to see her, but she knew they had nothing really that they could say in apology for how they had messed everything up with Jayley's election. "Miss me," she said with a glowing smile as she took her place in her chair.

"Lacus," one of them spoke up but she gestured for them to be silent as many ZAFT military officers filled the room.

"This council is no longer worthy of action," Lacus said raising her eyebrows, "ZAFT is taking you all into custody and you will be undergoing quite a heavy investigation. Those clean will continue to serve but those with questionable pasts will be removed and elections will take place for replacements. According to the code in Article 8 of the governing manuals ." They all stared at her in shock, dumbfounded before they started to protest but there was nothing they could do. She had won here and she knew by the past that at least a few of them were in fact associated with ROW. She settled back in her seat saving a victory before sending orders to the ZAFT forces, they were going to take ROW down today. She was back in power now and ready to fight.

* * *

Meiko stood up and turned to Kira who still did not understand what brought him here. He saw anger in her eyes and a desperation he didn't understand, whatever Liene told her had changed everything about her and what he saw now he knew would change everything. She had tears streaked down her face and blood on her hands as she looked to him with a fallen countenance.

"This ends today," Meiko said to him with extreme heights to her anger, she looked at the disk in her hands, "he was foolish to keep everything from me until now but it's not too late." He looked at her questioningly and she nodded to him, "we've been played since the beginning. Liene has toyed with all of us till this moment, not because he wanted war but because of real peace, now it's time to finish everything. We've all been marching to the beat of another's drum for too long, Gryser Cerrian dies today." He knew that whoever it was she was speaking about was in for it, for she was dead serious and ready to destroy anything in her path.

"Meiko I don't know what your planning but see reason now," Kira said to his daughter, "you have no idea what your getting yourself into. At least with ROW you know what your up against, you can rush into this." She turned now on him with anger.

"We've lost too much time already!" she yelled, "even now things are falling to pieces, I have to go now! I won't rest until he's gone!" Kira realized Meiko's resilience was not broken by what she saw before her now but it was stronger than before, she was going to get what she wanted no matter the cost and her anger made him wonder at what Liene had said to her. For she had let tears fall at his death and was now working with information he had given her, the change was a complete 180 from what had been in her mind before the battle. Something was strong in his spirit now as well, there was an intense sense of danger and extreme peril in what was about to happen. The battle was coming to a close and he wondered now who was going to come out on top. This Cerrian, ROW or the forces of the earth and those who fought for a better tomorrow.

* * *

**Getting close! Next, Phase 49: Yaro's Path**  
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**-WINTERCHILL**


	51. Yaro's Path

**Phase 49: Yaro's Path**

* * *

_Yaro felt the light of his super seed filling him and he saw the world around him fading into light. There was a path before him in this place and a path behind him where he knew he had trodden before by the footsteps he saw. Wherever this place was he felt that it was safe and he also felt that he somehow belonged here. He had been fighting his entire life to understand so many things and it was only in his recent history that he realized his real need for some form of peace in his life. He had grown up in one of the greatest families in the world and had been given every opportunity to excel yet there was always something missing. He had fallen over the edge a couple times only to have those that cared about him there to catch him and lift him up again. He realized now that without them he was nothing._

_He sought in this battle to discover his own identity and his own path; he wanted to know the reason he was in the world and the reason that he had the super seed to light the way before him. Meiko had become the one person that saw him even when he did not see himself who in her own way knew how to encourage him. Now he was here separate from her as he realized that at least for now their paths split leading them down different roads. Before he would have rejected the idea but now he realized that it was not his place. He was stronger than before, more ready for what lay ahead and ready to take a stand for everything that he knew was right and good._

_"You are indeed ready," Uzumi's voice Yaro turned to see his cousin standing on a rock nearby. "It's been a long time Yaro. I've only been able to watch from afar and though I wish I could be fighting alongside of you we both know how impossible that would be." Yaro nodded as he saw the glowing form of his cousin, an angel of light always watching over those who he cared about._

_"Uzumi," Yaro spoke his name, "you've seen much more than the rest of us. Now tell me where my path leads." Uzumi's face was unreadable and blank as he looked toward the path ahead, it was blurred and unclear._

_"That is for you to decide Yaro," Uzumi said to him as Uzumi's eyes grew sad, "I know what fate would have you do but I also know that you do have a choice Yaro. You can choose to continue on as you have your entire life or you could choose to rise higher than anyone would ever expect. For you have it in you to change the world, you just have to find it and to choose your path. For it may seem like darkness but there is so much light in doing the right thing." Yaro did not understand but he knew that when the moment was right he would figure out what it was Uzumi meant. _

_"I'm ready for anything that comes my way," Yaro said staring past Uzumi now to the path before him as it's blur began to change, "no matter what it is that comes my way. I will stand to the end and fight with everything that is in me for the end of this war. I will bring about a lasting peace and I will put my life on the line for it. This I swear." Uzumi's face saddened as he knew where this would lead everyone and that the road was still long in front of everyone._

_"Then fight today," Uzumi said to Yaro as he turned toward the path as well._ Yaro saw then the vision fading as he was back on the battlefield, against the STING 2 and he was ready to face it. He yelled orders to a nearby mobile suit team and circled up once again. It would be ready to fire soon and he knew they would all have to stay on top of it to get out of the way.

* * *

Kira didn't recognize Meiko anymore, something about her had definitely changed by whatever dark things Liene had revealed to her but he realized he couldn't stop whatever had changed within her. Tears were still in her eyes as they rushed back to their mobile suits. She had explained a little to him, that Liene's whole life was a ploy to draw out an even greater evil and that Liene had given his soul for that purpose. Now Meiko had taken up his cause to end everything and she had all the tools to do so. Kira wondered at everything but Meiko didn't really say much about it, he only saw that she really believed everything she had been told.

Meiko knew in a way she was back with ROW but she knew the world would watch the battle against ROW and know nothing of why they existed. This battle needed to be fought, to show everyone what madness of things that they did not understand, to show them the evils of war and the error of their hatred. Even now her own eyes spelled the madness of war as she was unable to see everything before now, she cursed to the air as she entered the Phoenix.

"Get back to the battlefield father," she said to Kira as she turned toward the PLANTs, "leave Cerrian to me!" But Kira would hear nothing of it, something had brought him to this moment to help her and he knew that whatever it was, it would not allow him to leave her side now. If this was to be her task he as her father would go in with her, it was the least he could do after being so blind to everything. He should have seen that there was more danger in what Liene was telling her than in what he would do to her, because Liene realized that he needed her to finish everything he set out to do. Anger formed in his heart when he realized Liene had also won another battle here, the battle for ending Meiko's reign of light, for now she had every dark emotion in her heart. Her training from ROW was complete and she was more of a weapon than she ever had been before.

"I'm not going back Meiko," he responded to her with resilience, "because I have to protect you from everything, even if I am protecting you from yourself. You are not facing this alone!" She knew he would not give up on that so she nodded and let him come along. Whatever she was going for now, it would be harder than anything she ever had to do before but Cerrian needed to pay for ROW and everything else he caused.

For without Cerrian there would have been no John Liene, the man who became John Liene would have lived in peace and ROW would have never come. Everything would have been better, and Yaro would have had a life with a family that loved him. She saw everything so clearly now, the madness that was John Liene was created by the evils that were Gryser Cerrian. She was blinded by hatred for so long, she never saw what exactly was going on around her and for that she wanted to end it.

"This world is twisted," Meiko said aloud as she looked out onto the battlefield and her fragile super seed opened up again it was as if they could all hear her words now, "Everything that we've done. What have we become? Our souls are forsaken and we've crossed the line into everything that should not be. Seeing the violence now, is this world just a broken promise? Why must we take our vengeance, why must we live the way we do? I don't want to be a part of this hell we've created, falling faster and further until there is nothing left of everything we are supposed to be. There is no escape from our destiny, we've made it clear who we are going to be. No more of this, let it be banished, and let peace come. Now that I know the madness I see everything, we're not going to let this continue!" Kira heard her words and saw the light of her super seed as she moved toward the PLANTs and veered suddenly. She fired her weapons taking out the side of a ship he had not seed as explosions happened and a mirage fell, revealing the ship of Gryser Cerrian.

"Meiko?" Kira asked in shock, what had she done? How had she been so precise with everything. But Meiko did not respond as the girl he knew had faded completely into the Phoenix, a weapon built to fight off Cerrian. She was a weapon made to save them all.

* * *

Dearka spun around the mobile suit he was fighting but the enemy was in a stronger machine. Krey fought without heart and without a care but his machine was clearly the more powerful of the two and Dearka began to realize that he was near loosing this battle if he didn't step his tactics up. He swiped at the machine but it came back stronger and in the moment Yzak turned his own machine to see Jurme's beam saber slice through the side of Dearka's machine. Dearka cried out and saw the heat levels of his reactor rising.

"Dearka!" Yzak yelled his friends name and moved in to fight off Krey. Dearka let up the systems trying to cool his machine but nothing was working. He reached to eject but his cockpit would not open and panic filled him.

"Yzak!" Dearka called as Yzak attacked full force at Jurme Krey, tearing his enemy apart. Krey realized now that his time had come, he had tried hard to make some sort of difference for ROW because he always believed in the cause but Liene overlooked him all the time choosing Meiko Virea over him. They were bitter rivals but today he did not die by her hand, for she would have spared his life. He saw the final blow coming and he let it come because he realized it was justice for the wrong he had done his entire life. Yzak watched the machine explode in front of him and moved back quickly turning to see Dearka's machine struggling.

"Just hold on Dearka," Yzak said moving in and trying to pry open the cockpit.

"It's too late Yzak!" Dearka declared, "get back! You have a life, you have to live!" Yzak didn't want to give up but Dearka's machine was way too hot and it exploded causing his machine to fly backwards, damaged and ruined.

"DEARKA!" Yzak yelled as the realization that it was over for his friend sunk into him. This was never meant to happen yet it had. Another one of them had been lost this day and Yzak's anger was intense now as he scanned the battlefield and the ruin that it had all over it. Everyone was fighting but the battles were being lost left and right. ROW kept bringing in more ships and he knew that they were nowhere near done yet.

* * *

Lacus tapped her fingers against the arm of her chair, clearly savoring the small victory she had just won. People always underestimated her because of her pink hair and peace loving ways, but now the seed was in her eyes as it was clear that she was not letting things around her just go the way they had been going. Kayla sat in the seat beside her mother with the pink Haro jumping around behind her repeating his name irritatingly. The ZAFT officers and Clyne faction troops were before her now as she nodded to them reassuringly.

"You've done well," she spoke to all of them clearly, "ZAFT has been given it's new orders to concentrate ROW and regard us as allies. After what Leyas has revealed I am sure that it's not a shock they would listen." The lead of them nodded.

"Yes ma'am," the man responded, "we're all on the side of peace and in the end we were beginning to suspect something from Jayley Lired. She has disappeared since the battle as well and we have been working on your orders to locate her and bring her into custody but there are no traces of her. As for the cannon she employed it was not built by ZAFT and we had no clue it was behind our lines until the mirage fell. Whatever game she was playing she had allies and it's clear that at some point she was connected to ROW." Lacus nodded, that was revealed with the information they collected on Mars, the same information Leyas had relayed to the entire world this day. Lacus was at first worried for Leyas but she admired her daughters boldness in standing up for what it was she believed in. That truth that Leyas had spoken turned around a lot of things today and it helped her win this.

"Very good," Lacus responded standing up, "we must now do our best to protect our people, no shots must come near the PLANTs from that STING 2. I have received reports that Kiran knocked out the strange cannon, now all that remains is to end ROW. Concentrate everything on disabling their ships and mobile suits. Try to bring officers into custody so that we have confessions to weed out any other potential threats from ROW. Though I suspect they brought everything here today, we must not rule out the idea that they could attempt something else." The officer saluted her.

"Yes ma'am," he responded turning with a few of his other officers and relaying messages changing strategies. Lacus leaned back, this was where she should have been all along.

* * *

Trey rushed up the stairs with Flay and the Redemption guards behind him, as he hurried he saw that the door was ajar but Leyas must still be inside. His heart quickened as he sensed danger and he wondered why she had not come down yet.

"Leyas," he said her name as he rushed up the stairs bursting through the door.

"Trey!" Flay yelled alarmed, she hoped that whatever was wrong it wasn't a trap because if it was, he was rushing right into it. She ran behind him holding her gun up but there were no gunshots as he made it into the room, there was no sound but him crying out in anger, yelling for Leyas. When Flay entered he was frantically searching but there was no sign of here anywhere.

"Where is she?" Trey asked desperately looking everywhere he could but Flay just shook her head. She didn't understand it either, there was only one way out of this room and they were guarding it. Whatever happened someone had been planning it for a long time, and she was shocked to find that Leyas's plan had backfired in such an unexpected way. His emotions were at a high as he feared the worst, this was not part of the plan at all. Leyas was not here, she was missing and that sunk into him like a knife in the chest as he frantically rushed to the computers in a desperate attempt to hack the system. Nothing was working he glanced around the room rushing around the walls, searching for another way out. Flay watched as his emotions cracked and she put her weapons away and moved to him as he collapsed to his knees.

"We need to regroup," Flay said to him, "whoever did this could come back." She knew that may or may not be true, the guards might have fled because they received a message that the job had been finished. For this was someone's plan all along, let Leyas win this part so that victory seemed assured then distract her escort. It was done too artfully to be by John Liene, something else was up.

* * *

Yaro moved into the barrels, he had already destroyed all four and they had all been replaced quickly. Anger was stirring in his veins but he was staying on top of it all and trying to fight it. Something was telling him that he needed to figure something out fast because they were not going to be able to last of the STING 2 could not be stopped at some point. He had gotten a message from his mother that Kira said John Liene was dead now but the onslaught was not going to let up till they destroyed everything. Apparently this was nowhere near the end even though Meiko's goal of Lienes death had been met. Yaro realized now this madness would have to be fought out to the end and there were still quite a few ships to take out. If they could end those ships the robotics would be useless and without anyone to control them.

"Athrun!" he called to his uncle, "lead the teams in and take out the oncoming ships! Archangel with me, we have to find another weakness! Where is Kiran when we need him." He scanned the battlefield for the Courage and saw that Kiran was moving through it and destroying every enemy in his path as he was heading toward the PLANTs, wherever he was going it seemed urgent so Yaro turned back to the ship in front of him. They had to defeat this thing. He looked at the power on his weapon that he knew could drain some of the power from the ship but he had no way of knowing how powerful it would actually be.

* * *

She felt nothing but anger and hatred as she crashed her mobile suit into the side of the ship and fired a large blast toward it's engines. She was sure the fire crews were rushing as mini explosions went throughout the ship. She turned over it destroying a few guns, Kira was on her tail backing her up and destroying other guns. The ship launched a couple mobile suits and as Meiko continued disarming the ship Kira met them maneuvering around them and switching his targeting computer on. He watched as Meiko veered around the ship toward the opening she had made and she felt her mobile suit in at high speed. She was going to fight it from the inside, his seed exploded in panic and he turned on the three mobile suits. He fired his mobile suits guns and took out many of their weapons. He then moved in taking out their defenses and flew around the ship as it launched more mobile suits.

Meiko inside the ship fired her weapons and trashed the entire hanger to prevent any more mobile suits from being launched. She moved out of her machine quickly and launched herself toward the emergency doors before they shut and she drew her guns. She fired on everyone in sight as people were too late to draw their weapons. Her eyes were darkened as she took life after life. She was following the plan Liene had detailed for her on the disk, she knew where Cerrian was and she would kill him before he had a chance to twist the world anymore than he already had. She was strong enough to get through his forces and her hatred was such that she was unstoppable; taken over by the super seed and the darkest of thoughts she ever had were consuming her now.

She didn't believe in fate, or anything Liene said about prophecy but she knew that Cerrian was aware he had it coming. For anyone who ever committed a dark act instantly was filled with the shame it brought and the knowledge that there was only one end to all this.

Kira defeated a few more mobile suits and moved toward the opening Meiko had flow through. He saw the Phoenix suspended and realized Meiko must have left it. He then saw the doors were all shut, Meiko was inside now and alone. Her anger was such that he was aware whatever it was she was doing, she was doing blind. He needed to somehow get through to her before her madness caused her to loose life. He reached out for the surge of super seed energy he had felt earlier but it wasn't coming, no this was time for Yaro to move and Kira opened his transmissions.

* * *

"Yaro!" Yaro heard Kira's voice as his seed ignited by the sudden rush of adrenaline through him.

"What's going on?" Yaro asked as he continued to fight and glance at his power. They were getting close and he wasn't going to let up now. This was his battle and his contribution, perhaps destroying this ship could end everything and cause the ROW forces to loose heart.

"I need you to use your super seed Yaro!" Kira said urgently, "that new ship, Meiko's inside and I can't get to her Yaro, she's lost her mind! She's angry and she's not thinking clearly! I've never seen anything like this Yaro! You need to connect to her somehow, take hold of her and save her!" Yaro at that moment felt torn, he had committed himself to fighting here but Meiko needed him, he loved her so dearly and he would not loose her again. If what Kira said was true something must have happened to ignite the solider within her. Something was very very wrong. Yaro did not know what his super seed could do but it's connections were clearly strong, perhaps there was some way he could pull her out of this and save her before it was too late.

"I'm going for it," Yaro responded as Kira breathed in relief, "I'll do whatever it takes to get through to her." He turned to the Archangel and everyone who was fighting alongside them and quickly dropped behind them. "Cover me everyone," he said to them as he moved his machine into super seed mode and reached, he had to get there.

* * *

Meiko moved through the ship quickly killing everything in her path as her mind was focused on one thing, Cerrian was here. She moved through a high security area and killed the guards then ran toward the room she knew that Cerrian would be in. She had made it this far and nothing was going to stop her from ending everything. She fired three shots shattering the glass around the room as four guards behind it fired at her, two of them missed but one of them hit her. The bullet sunk into her shoulder, the same one Liene had shot before and the pain was immense but her extreme anger made it seem like nothing. She jumped into the air and spun toward them dodging the bullets as she went. She hit the ground right in a landing and fired at one dead center in the forehead.

She moved swiftly up the walls around the and fired again killing the second, the third. She then rushed toward the doors and after swiping a card off a dead guard she opened them and moved in.

"Please Meiko Virea see reason," the man before her said in a weak attempt to defend himself, she knew he was not Cerrian but rather one of Cerrian's goons. No the real Cerrian lay behind in the last room. "This is a peaceful ship, we want no part in the battle, only to protect those who wish to bring good into the world. See reason, this is all madness…" She didn't let him speak longer as she shot a bullet through his throat and he collapsed on the ground before her. She shook from the wound in her arm but she wasn't done yet, she would finish this task.

She let out a cry and shot off a frequency from one of her weapons that shattered the glass walls and cause it to rain. Some of it cut her as it flew by her but she didn't mind as she aimed fast and fired into the man beyond. She shot again and again and again, he fell to the ground and she continued to fire, draining all three of her guns and then collapsing to the ground in pain and anger. She shook from it but now she was immobilized as herself started to surface in it all. Behind her was a trail of death and before her was who she believed to be Cerrian, mangled and shot full of bullets. She cried out again as her mind fought her on many levels and the intensity of everything hit her hard. Everything she had felt her entire life unloaded in this moment as she cried out louder, her super seed burst stronger and everyone on the battlefield heard the cry of anger and grief that exploded from their Phoenix.

Lacus held her head as she heard it, Kira let tears escape his eyes as he feared the worst, Kiran and Trey echoed it and Yaro grasped it letting it's direction guide him now to Meiko's mind.

_She was a little girl again, always surrounded by weapons and always darkened by them. She was their protege, their little assassin. She was their darkest dreams, their greatest fear and somehow at the same time their only hope. She was everything they had made her to be, Meiko Virea, ROW's darkest creation. Everything they did wasn't what she wanted but it was somehow what she fell into, she couldn't escape the truth that she was everything they wanted her to be. She was their weapon and no matter how far she ran she kept returning and though she didn't want to be a part of everything she became the heart of it all. She rose high but then fell back down, so was there ever any worth to it all? Was there?_

* * *

"NO!" Yaro broke through Meiko's mind as he saw memories of her fragile childhood and he was filled with every dark thought she had ever had in her entire life. Things that had been erased by forgiveness resurfaced as Liene's words had taken hold of her and changed her in that moment but Yaro alone could feel her real self still there and fighting to get free from the madness of everything. The failure that she felt for not seeing the truth and the hate she had for herself and those around her that caused everything. She had taken many lives mercilessly but she justified it all and he saw that no matter the anger and hatred she showed, Meiko Virea was still there.

Yaro's eyes glowed brighter than ever before his full super seed alive and his light shooting in all directions from his mobile suit, everyone saw it. So much light, beckoning hope and opening the hearts of all as his mind brushed Meiko's. Her super seed which had pained her so much surfaced and his thoughts became hers.

"_No matter what you think you did you're still here," Yaro said to her, "Meiko you're still here. Please Meiko, you did what you had to in the moment, no matter what you didn't see we all make mistakes. You can't give in, you can't let it control your fate! You make your own destiny! Let it go Meiko, let it go." She responded to him as he saw her heart fighting all the memories that plagued her now._

_"Yaro," her mind cried out his name as he was right there with her every moment. _

_"Meiko you are all you have ever been," he said to her, "you are the Phoenix." In that moment she felt the warmth of his super seed and the love that he had for her; she felt the safety he offered as the one person who understood everything. He saw everything and still was there beside her now. _

Only Kira was there to see as at the call of Yaro and Meiko the Phoenix's engines ignited and the machine's super seed system activated. It was there ready as Meiko felt herself gain the strength to stand once more and float quickly back toward the hangar to get out of this doomed ship for the attention of ROW was on it as well. It would be going down soon.

Kira saw Meiko move past the doors and toward the Phoenix, there was a wound in her shoulder and there was a weakness to her that he saw clearly. She was hurt, tired and growing emotional. She was pulling herself together but Kira realized she was almost to a breaking point. He knew no matter what he said she would deny it. He had no control to get her off the battlefield and after what had just taken place he was sure she would want some way to atone for everything.

* * *

Yaro moved his mobile suit and shouted to all the forces around him to get out of range. The STING 2 was charging to fire and only three barrels were ready so he assumed the last one they had shot down was not replaced yet. They were getting close.

"Stay out of the range," Yaro said to his forces, "but prepare to move in once the shot fades! Stay alive people, this is the press." He then looked out on the battlefield and saw in terror that the Eternal was in range of the blast as it started to fire. "Eternal get out of there!" He yelled to them as he saw another one of the blasts heading toward the ship Kira and Meiko had entered.

* * *

"We can't move!" a crew member shouted in fear as Waltfeld braced himself for it. There was nowhere they could go with ROW ships on either side of them firing everything they had. He was only thankful now that Lacus was not here and in danger, for this was the end. He had defended the world for so long, only to loose out today. He had fought for ZAFT and in the end sided with the Clynes as they were people who truly desired peace. He had protected Lacus since she was just a young girl with ideals in her head and a voice that the masses listened to. Now he died defending the same ideals he believed in.

The blast was true as it went through the Eternal marking the last voyage of Andrew Waltfeld and the famed ship of Lacus Clyne.

* * *

"NO!" Lacus wanted to scream louder at what was happening before her but she knew she could show no weakness here in her time of triumph. It was terrible, the loss that incited her to rage and caused her heart to beat irregularly as her crew went down with her ship but she was safe in the PLANTs. She shook her head and Kayla was next to her a strength and support. This was not the time to cry, the place for that would be when this was over. For she was now more than ever ready for it to end.

* * *

Kiran's heart beat strongly and with anger as he searched for Trey's signal in the PLANT with his machine. He fought off a robotic unit and spun around the far side of the PLANTs until he found the signal that he was searching for. Trey's communication was still online, perhaps it was not too late to stop what Kiran knew was going to happen. He had to get Trey to save his sister before this Cerrian took her. He hoped beyond hope that his delay did not bring him to be too late.

"Trey!" Kiran shouted the name of his ally as he continued to fight the robotic unit that stubbornly pursued him, "Trey you have to tell me you have Leyas with you! Trey they are after her, the same ones who brought that cannon wanted to kidnap her. Please tell me she's safe." There was no response for a second then he heard Trey's breathing through his radio as he pulled a winning move and caused the next robotic to explode in front of him. The blast threw him off course a bit and just as Trey was about to speak it cut out so he moved back into position and connected again, "repeat, I missed what you said!" He was desperate hoping for good news beyond hope and knowing that Trey was taking too long to respond.

"Leyas is gone," Trey responded to Kiran, "they took her! They distracted us with guards and they took her! We failed Kiran! I can't find any hints to where they went! Leyas is gone." Kiran was not too shocked at the news, he had a feeling in his mind that he had failed with his mission to warn them and failure had a bitter taste to him.

* * *

_Fire would not take her, the end was not here now. Meiko was still there._

"NOW!" Meiko yelled as the blast hit the ship and she fired up the Phoenix blasting out with Kira on her tail. She turned her mobile suit to see the ship exploding behind her, and the end of her mission up in flames. She was back, her mind no longer numb and hollow as before; Yaro had made it through and she saw that she did what she had to. She completed the prophecy and destroyed the enemy of the world, but the battle was far from over as she saw the ROW ships were continuing to fight, despite Liene's death. The large STING 2 was also still up and running, she would have to correct that.

"The Eternal!" Kira exclaimed as he realized it wasn't there, that it had been destroyed by the warships.

"It's alright," Meiko said reassuring him, "Lacus is in the PLANTs." He nodded still saluting for the fallen warship. She looked out toward where she should go next. Everyone seemed to be stretched thin as ROW had more robotics coming; Liene had brought everything he had. Today was to mark the last battle of ROW and he was making it as memorable as he could. She breathed in deeply as she knew what she had to do now and what part Kira would play.

"I'll join with Athrun," Kira said to her as he saw that Athrun and Yzak were defending the ships from a launch attack of ROW agent mobile suits; a little bit harder than robotics. She nodded, that was what she believed he had to do at this point.

"I'l going with Yaro," Meiko responded, "We've got to take out that machine."

"Roger that," Kira responded moving his machine at high speed toward his destination. Meiko streaked out in front of the battlefield in fully glory as she knew that the reappearance of the Phoenix was sure to inspire the masses to fight all the harder, and with the length of the battle so far she knew morale was low. She let off the bright lights of her machine and brandished it's wings as she flew toward the STING 2. On her way she spun around a group of robotics and let a ROW ship lock missiles on her, she then moved behind the mindless robotic units and let them take the missile strike. She then moved toward the ship and shot down it's missile launcher and fired on it's main hangars. She couldn't let them launch anything else at this point.

She then moved past it and repeated the process of disarming on two more ships. She had spilt too much blood already and with ROW's commander down she knew a lot of Liene's followers were more innocent that he would have the world believe.

* * *

"Yaro Yamato," he heard a voice he did not recognize coming from his communicator and on his screen was a strange man. He didn't have time for this, they had to finish the job on the STING 2, he had spent most of the battle here, it was ridiculous in his mind. He knew that it appeared as if every time ROW lost a ship they would replace it, just like the cannon barrels but that seemed impossible unless they had not yet attacked with full force; that thought was something that made him more anxious so he put it out is his mind.

"Unless you have some way of stopping this thing I don't want to hear it!" Yaro yelled at the man on the screen and the person did not flinch or show any sigh of leaving, he just smiled slowly.

"I have exactly that," the man responded slyly, "I was going to let you figure it out but you're taking too long. Behind the barrels is a heavily defended area, there are quite a few ship turrets an missile launchers. What do you think they are defending?" It was then that this man's implications became clear to Yaro. ROW would have seen the Dreamer's fights in the battle against the PLANTs so they knew it's capabilities. Of course they would defend the part of the ship that was most vulnerable to him. He now noticed just how large it was and that it would take a full charge to take it out; the nuclear reactor.

"Who are you?" Yaro now asked the man.

"Simply someone who wishes ROW would hurry and end," the man responded, "for they have meddled in affairs of the world long enough; and you're the only one who can stop them." With that the man disappeared leaving Yaro confused.

* * *

Meiko moved quickly now as she sliced through the robotics the Archangel was fighting and ended her stream of power right in front of the Dreamer and she blasted a large cannon taking out the barrel in front of him. She then turned back to him with a smile as she knew this was their time to fight alongside each other. This point in the battle was theirs.

"Meiko," Yaro said her name with relief, he would need her to get to the reactor.

"You didn't think I would give up that easily did you?" Meiko responded to him with a grateful voice, "I do have you to thank for that." He let her voice sink into his heart as he knew that it was far from over. He had reached for her in her state of panic but now she would help him through this next part. Her debt would be repaid then, if she could even call it a debt for he loved her more than anything in the world now.

"Anytime Meiko," he said to her as he turned to the STING 2, "I know what to do here but I need you to cover me." She looked in the direction his mobile suit was turned toward, "the nuclear reactor is large and I'm near at full strength, I can take that power away and this machine would be done, but I need you to help me fight past the defenses." She looked at it's massive size and thought of Yaro's weaponry. She then remembered her initial encounter with the first STING and that once Kira got her through it was only a nuclear explosion that stopped the reactor. If Yaro could do the opposite of what she did and drain the power from the nuclear reactor the results wouldn't be as devastating as the first time.

"I'll help you through," Meiko responded, "but are you sure there is enough power to take it out." Yaro nodded as his eyes began to glow.

"My super seed gives it enough power," he replied as he turned and moved in. She followed him breaking the lines and using a targeting computer to fire on the first wave of cannons. It was as if the ROW ship read what they were trying to do and it sent out a fresh wave of robotic mobile suits. Meiko and Yaro moved side by side and with quick skill to destroy as many as they could but another wave was produced.

"Go Yaro!" Meiko exclaimed and he listened as he knew she could handle it. He saw Mu and Jacob's machines coming on both sides of him.

"Got you covered," Mu said as he destroyed a turret and Jacob joined Meiko fighting the robotics. It was then that Yzak arrived with his machine and moved past Mu and Yaro to destroy more of the defensive weapons on the machine.

"There's a shield around the reactor," Yzak said to Yaro as he sliced the gun barrels of a turret, "It's on the far side, Mu if you move with me we'll be able to take it down." Mu nodded in response and followed Yzak away from Yaro so he moved the Dreamer into a more intense fighting stance and let his super seed take control.

* * *

"There are 15 ROW ships on that side," Kira said to Athrun as more robotics flew from there, "if we can destroy them I think they will loose control of the robotics then they will be forced to give up and surrender," Athrun saw what Kira was saying but that all depended on if those were indeed the ships controlling the robotics.

"I'll go with you on this one," Athrun replied to Kira, "we can certainly take them and this will end if Meiko and Yaro then take the STING 2 down."

"I have no doubt they will," Kira said looking toward that battle, "they're strong enough, and the odds are ever moving in their favor." Athrun smiled slightly as he knew Kira was correct. If anyone could take the STING 2 down now they would have to place their bets on Meiko and Yaro and whatever they were planning to do there. He then followed Kira and the two aces moved toward the ships at a blinding speed and they were certain to win here. Shinn joined up with them quickly as he knew the faster this went the better. The three together were unstoppable and the ROW ships did not stand a chance.

* * *

"The Shield is down Meiko!" Yaro yelled as he saw the shield fade, Yzak and Mu had succeeded. Meiko nodded and Jacob moved in to secure her move away from the robotics as Yzak and Mu joined him. Meiko moved toward the defenses of the reactor and fought them off while defending Yaro as he moved his mobile suit in position and charged the blast. He elevated is super seed energy letting it flow into the weapons and she saw his machine began to glow. He reached out with his mind and opened up all possibilties before him and focused on the one that would lead to victory.

"This is the beginning of your path Yaro," He heard Uzumi's voice in his head, "No take your shot."

The Dreamer fired a large blast that ate into the heart of the nuclear reactor and the power instead of disappearing as before flowed into the Dreamer mobile suit as Yaro put everything he had into it. The blast was long and the light was bright as the battlefield turned to see it. The light of the Dreamer.

"Yaro," Meiko said his name in awe at what was happening before them. She felt her strength weakening from her wounds, she knew he would have to strike now before she was out of strength entirely. He heard her breath waver and knew that she was hiding weakness from him. He smiled as he knew she would be able to hold on one second longer. For he was ready.

"This day it will end," Yaro said, "this day ROW falls!" The blast faded and the STING 2 shut down completely but the Dreamer continued to glow brighter than before.

* * *

"That's it!" Shinn announced as they took out the last ship and he smiled satisfyingly as he saw that Yaro and Meiko had indeed ended the reign of the STING 2. Kira's breathing was hard and so was Athruns as they turned to see the battlefield was silent. The PLANT, NEA and Redemption forces spent. The ORB and Clyne faction forces holding on and ready to continue to fight but for all intents it appeared to be over.

In that moment they turned from the battlefield toward the light they saw radiating from the Dreamer, it took over the battlefield captivating everyone who could see it. It's awesome and amazing light.

"It's over," Athrun let out.

"No," Kira felt danger in his mind as everyone turned away from Yaro to see another force of ROW ships move it and all the robotics once again came online. Kira's mouth fell open in shock and anger, it was so close to over yet this. There were nearly as many ships on ROW's side as when the battle had begun and with the forces of good spent on the last batch this was certain to be the end.

* * *

Yaro stared dead ahead of him at the oncoming ships and he felt the fear of his allies rise in the battlefield. He heard many of their thoughts through his seed, thoughts of goodness and the people they wanted to see again. A hopeless feeling in the air. Breath left Meiko's lungs as she saw what was coming. They could fight them off surely but not without more loss of life and a price that was harder for them to pay than it should have been. The cost was already high, at this moment it would break the spirit of the world and she was shocked at how thorough Liene had been. She clenched her fists.

"Yaro," she said to him as she felt a weight of responsibility on her shoulders., "I'll go in alone, this is my battle you must see that. I'll take them all." She wanted to do this, to erase the guilt of responsibility for not seeing before what was happening around her; for not understanding John Liene nor paying attention to things beyond the world that she grew in. She had been blind to everything, blinded by hatred and anger over what she had been forced to endure and she had never imagined that Liene endured worse. Liene gave his soul to the darkest acts to bring about peace and ROW was a symbol of what he had been forced to do. She now wished to erase that symbol for the sake of the world and for his son. Yaro knew what it was she was planning and that she would sacrifice her life for the world in this act to end ROW because of guilt. He also saw things she did not understand, reasons why she had to live that even she was unaware of; reasons that drove him on. She was also injured, and too weak to actually succeed and if she did not see that she was blinding herself to the truth that she wasn't ready for this.

"No," Yaro responded to her words as he weighed his own reasons for this moment, "I'm going in." He knew now what Uzumi meant, "for this is my path, not yours. This is my end." Anger filled her at his words but he cared not. Uzumi said he would rise, but to rise he would first have to fall; that explained the sadness in his cousins eyes. He would have to fall completely so far that there would be no way out but in this act he would then rise in history and to those who cared for him. But it didn't matter what the world said about him, for he realized he needed this. To erase the things that he had done, he would find the light that Uzumi spoke of; the light that came from doing the right thing no matter what that thing led to.

"I'm going in with you then," she responded to him, "there's no way in hell I'm staying here." He heard her words but they rolled past him. This was not her fight, he realized it now more than ever. This fight was his, to end ROW and clean up the mess his father made; it was his fight. No matter how she tried she could not change that, and she could not be a part of it just as he could not be a part of her fight earlier. Their paths split now, leading them farther from each other. He had to make everyone else understand, he would deal with Meiko after he got his family back.

"I'll handle it," Yaro now broadcasted to the battlefield, "Defend the PLANTs, defend the ships! Defend the lives that deserve to keep living. I'll end this now! The power the Dreamer absorbed from the STING 2 will end this now." Meiko's anger grew at this, he was still refusing to allow her in on his plan. She wasn't going to let him go in alone, and she saw the battlefield behind her recoiling as the ships of the allies regrouped together as a barrier in front of the PLANTs, clearly now believing in the light of the Dreamer and trusting that he knew what he was doing. His super seed was stronger than hers, fully matured and it inspired the masses to do as he told them. This was a power she should possess but didn't. He was now cutting her out of this battle and sending her away; she didn't want to leave his side and she would not go anywhere willingly. "I'm going in alone Meiko, don't try and follow me." But she was already resolved and she wondered if he would really go the full measure to stop her.

"How are you going to stop me?" Meiko responded angrily to him, "I'm not going to let you do this Yaro, I'm not going to let you throw your life away like this!" His eyes were clear as he did not heed her words, he only saw what he needed to do and that he needed to keep her out of it.

"You're not even going to take a second thought to think about what you mean to the world?" Yaro asked her calmly. "I don't need your permission to go in alone; this is my Destiny Meiko and it will never be yours." He would go the distance to keep her safe. His machine glowed brightly as he turned on her striking the Phoenix and shocking the battlefield, "cause I'm not letting you fight like this!" He knew she was too weak to fight back strong enough to stop him. She had no super seed power and not enough strength to stand against his Destiny.

* * *

Kira looked shocked when he saw Yaro attacking the Phoenix, and he wanted to move in to defend her but the robotics were swarming now. No one was there to stop Yaro from ending Meiko now, but somehow Kira knew he wouldn't do it but he still did not understand what was going, then he realized Yaro wanted to fight alone so he was disarming Meiko. He would not allow her onto the battlefield and Kira realized that their darkest dreams were coming true. Yaro was going to give up his life for everything that they believed in and no one was to go with him; for no one could stop him.

* * *

Meiko fought back strong but her mind was weak so she could not access her super seed. Yaro basted her shield and started breaking her weapons one by one. She fought back harder but he was beating her. She struggled trying to gain the upper hand but again and again she kept loosing it. She didn't want to go down like this, she didn't want to loose this battle and she wanted to fight alongside Yaro and not against him. He felt sadness in what he had to do but he knew it was necessary, nothing she said would change his mind; for he loved her enough to save her from death.

"Yaro please! I can't loose you! We have more of a chance if both of us go in," she protested as she grappled for any chance she had against the super powered Dreamer and the light of the super seed but there was nothing. She was loosing this battle and he was going to go in alone no matter what. She didn't expect that she would ever be defeated so quickly by anyone; but her reflexes against Yaro were never as strong as against anyone else. There was always something about him that was different, from the first time she fought him to today and she knew there was a strength to him that she would never understand. He had been through so much; from the darkest thought to the most evil act he had ever committed there was always something of a light that he could not escape. His soul was preserved for this day and this moment.

"This isn't your fight anymore Meiko," he said, "it's mine!" He destroyed the last defense she had as his super seed dominated his machine, his mind and the entire battlefield. For this time she had lost a battle as Yaro proved himself superior to her in one way, the way that mattered in this moment; his super seed was complete. She cried out in anguish as she tried once again to move her machine, to stop him as he knew he did not want her to see the things that were coming. All her life Meiko had seen the dark and today it had been worse than ever, just for this moment she will be blind to it all. He reached out the hand of his mobile suit taking the head of the Phoenix and smashing it, along with Meiko's cameras and the view of the world that she had. He heard her crying out his name as he turned the Dreamer toward the ships that waited in the distance. He had spilt so much blood on this battlefield and the battlefields before, so many lives had been lost because of him and now it was time for him to embrace his destiny, his darker dreams and his true identity as the son of John Liene. And with that identity came the responsibility to end the madness of his father and bring about the peace ROW always promised the would bring.

Liene's child projects had both been taken from ROW but even that did not change their purpose. Meiko was destined to end Cerrian and Yaro was born to close ROW's final acts. No matter how people around them had tried to stop everything they had only caused it all to happen. Yaro bowed his head now as he knew it would not be long, his life in this act was forfeit.

"Please understand Meiko," he said to her now, "I will destroy the darkness now, I will destroy ROW and I will destroy everything else in the process. The world will be reborn, and only then will you find the peace that you deserve, only then will I be free." For so long he had desired the freedom to move past everything that he had witnessed and all the things that had changed him. That came today and with the world as his witness he would show who he really was.

"NO!" She cried out, "you can't do this! You can't fight like this Yaro! If you don't die you'll live with this guilt of how many you killed and if you do die I'd rather die with you! Please Yaro! I need you, I need you!" His eyes widened at her words, he had told her he loved her once when she was confused and alone, then once when they had seen life for what it could be. That time they had together that seed so long ago now. She had opened to him and said it as well but the hardships that the phrase came with, it meant that they were both vulnerable and able to be hurt now, would she dare to say it again.

"Meiko Virea," he said her sweet name for what he had determined in his heart would be the last time, "you've been everything that I've ever dreamed of, you have been my only joy and my only strength. Now Meiko Virea I want you to say the words you only barely said to me before. I want you to say the words that you hid from when you were in ROW. I want you to say the words that you always feared would leave you vulnerable. I want you Meiko Virea to tell me the words I know are true; give me the peace of knowing there is something for me to return to and then I will promise you anything you want me to." She heard him and she knew what he wanted now and she knew that he understood what it was she would ask. This was a moment of so many decisions and all at once it hit her and she felt her super seed begin to glow, but this time it was different. There was no darkness in this, only light as it was her own super seed.

"Yaro Yamato," she said as tears rolled down her face and her breath began to catch in her throat, "I love you!" He exhaled as he heard the words echo in his soul and their hearts connected in that moment. He knew this was the hardest thing she had ever done, to speak words of comfort when she knew he would be throwing himself into the frays of death in only moments. She knew that no matter how she begged, he was determined to change the world. "Promise me," she whispered now, "Promise me…" It was as if everything around them had faded and she made her final plea begging him, "Promise me you'll live!"

"I'll live," he spoke words with conviction now as he knew he had something to live for, "I will live!" There was silence from him now as she heard nothing more, and she knew that he had charged forward into the battlefield that was certain death. There was no way he could survive yet he had promised her he would. He had promised her he would live, but no matter what he promised he knew he could not outrun fate.

* * *

Every eye was on it as Yaro went into the midst of the ships with his brightest light glowing and he fought. Explosion, after explosion lit the sky as even from earth Cagalli and Jeffery looked up to see lights glowing and fading quickly. What was left of the allies that had stood before now held back as they saluted to a sacrifice that Yaro was too quick and willing to make. Tears in their eyes as the emotion of everything weighed on each person. The ROW fleet was slowly evaporating as Yaro continued to fight, no damage to his mobile suit would stop him till every last ship was down.

Any other mobile suit that entered was lost but Yaro was not, he was fighting. Kira was shocked at what the world had come to, all the devastation seen today and the loss of life. He moved the Freedom in and collected what was left of the Phoenix, he could hear Meiko's cries as she wanted to know what was happening but she lacked any way to see what was going on. Kira felt his own eyes crying as he knew that Yaro would not return from this, it was the end for his son and everything that he had taught him came down to this last act. Yaro felt hope flowing through him as he fought, he ignored everything but will and everyone watched as the largest explosion yet rocketed through the rest of the ships, edged with the blue glow of Yaro's super seed. It vanished then leaving only the rubble of the ships. Every robotic was disabled, everything was finished.

"Goodbye my son," Kira said as he bowed his head. Every ship launched their return lights and every person on earth lit their candles toward the sky as the world beneath them felt the emotion of the skies above.

"Yaro," He heard Meikos voice as he rushed toward the Reversal, "Yaro, Yaro, Yaro, Yaro." No response, no matter the promise he made. There was no response to her calls, Yaro Yamato was gone.

* * *

Kira dragged her limp form from what was left of the Phoenix as the Redemption medical team rushed toward them both. Flay entered and saw the shocking scene, Meiko limp in Kira's arms with her breath becoming more and more shallow; for everything this day had broken them and in turn it had broken the world around them.

"Get her to the emergency room now!" Flay yelled as Kira let the doctors take his daughter from him. Flay saw the broken look on his face and knew he was morning the death of his son, Yaro more than anything now. Kira felt what he knew it was that Athrun felt when Uzumi died, the hollow anger and tragedy of an event that never should have occurred. Memories of Yaro now filled his mind, the small child he had adopted from the orphanage at Lacus's insistence. She had grown attached to the boy and thought she had twins to raise she felt that another addition to their family was a good idea and Yaro had been one of the most amazing children in the world. Kira often forgot that Yaro was adopted as they raised him; even in his moments of defiance Kira saw his strength and Kira had grown proud of him. Now Kira realized in this moment he would never see Yaro's face again; he would never comfort him when he was down and he would never see him rise again.

Kira wrapped his arms around himself as he realized how fast the moments had moved and now they were lost. At the same time Lacus in the PLANTs was feeling the same devastating loss and Kira knew he needed to get back to her and the kids; for they were all broken in this now. He had tried to avoid ever crying again but today tears flowed freely for besides Yaro so many more had fallen.

"Get me a shuttle to the PLANTs immediately," he said to a Redemption guard, he then looked to Flay who also had tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said trying to think of something else to say as sobs filled her. Yzak then came from the other side of the hangar seemingly and embraced her. Kira turned away toward the shuttle now heading to his family; to face this loss with them and help them through it. He was the head of the family and though he felt like breaking down as a child he knew he would have to show strength and in a way that was the hardest task of all.

* * *

Athrun enters the PLANT council chamber to see the distraught ZAFT officers as Lacus was crying and trying to gather herself with Kayla there comforting her. Athrun saluted as he knew she had military power here and he knew that it was something he could do now out of respect for what had just taken place.

"The battle is over," Athrun said to the ZAFT officers, "the PLANT borders are secure, the NEA teams and the Redemption teams are taking the ROW officers captive as we speak and taking in the wounded." He hated this formality in light of what had just taken place but it was something he knew was a necessary evil at this point. To Lacus the world around her was spinning, she could barely hear what he was saying over the memories of her little boy. The same child who had helped her through so much in the past had now saved so many lives today but the sacrifice was his life. It was then that the doors to the chamber opened again to reveal Kira. At the sight of her husband she jumped from her chair and rushed into his arms; he held her close and let her emotions wash over him.

"Yaro," was the only word Lacus could say but Kira understood. Before the doors could close behind Kira there were two more people entering, Kiran, Trey and Leyas should have been behind them but she wasn't.

"Where's Leyas?" Kira asked staring at Trey directly as he had been the one to take her into the PLANTs as recklessly as he had. Trey wanted to cower in this moment, to run away; this family didn't need any more ill news. He was loosing his emotions as it was; him and Kiran had searched through the PLANT as best they could and had found no sign of her. Wherever she had gone it was out of their reach.

"She's gone missing," Kiran spoke up finally as tears were spilling from his eyes, he had lost his brother today in death and his sister had vanished.

The words Kiran spoke hung between everyone in the room as they were all shocked.

"Leyas," Kira said looking toward the ceiling, strength didn't matter now. His son was dead, his daughter was gone. "LEYAS!"

* * *

"We're loosing her," the Redemption medical officer yelled as Flay stood by Yzak watching the medical team scramble to try and save Meiko; nothing was working as her vitals were getting worse and worse then the sound that no one wanted to her. Her heart beat was gone.

* * *

**What an emotional ride, there is still one more chapter. Phase 50: Shattered but I think it might be short because it's more of a wrap up than anything else. This story has been a beast to write and am overwhelmed to be at this point now and seeing it closing brings tears to my eyes. There were so many things that had to happen in this chapter I wasn't sure how I would fit it all in but I got there. (Luna/Shinn's reactions will be in the next chapter along with other things)**

**So I've given quite a few shocks I think, I want to hear everything you have to say about them and how you think they will affect what happens in the future of this story that I've been creating. So please give me a long detailed review of what you thought about all this and about all the things that happened. I seriously do obsess over reviews, I love reading them and I enjoy hearing what you have to say so REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!**

**-WinterChil**


	52. Shattered

**Phase 50: Shattered**

* * *

Flay held her breath inside of her and she was unwilling to let it out. In this day there had been too much loss and the spirit of those that she cared about had been broken in such a harsh way. Liene had gotten his revenge on the world and on those that he swore he would destroy. Flay was much more ashamed now of the things that she had been unable to do out on the battlefield. She was ashamed that she was too weak to stop it all. Now Meiko was lying before her, the girl had lost her will to live after the events and her wounds were great enough that she could let this take her life. The machine gave no response, no heartbeat was heard.

"There's nothing more we can do," a nurse said to the doctor as he kept examining the charts and trying to find some sign of life in the girl; he had see miracles from her. Meiko had first been brought to him after destroying the first STING and no matter how many times she flatlined she always came back; he felt as though there was still hope for her to come back as if this were not the end. It was then that the doctor saw something he didn't understand, there was life but it wasn't coming from Meiko. HIs eyes widened as he called for one of the nurses to look at something with him and she looked shocked as well. Flay looked toward the monitor but she did not understand what it was that they were doing. The doctor jumped and checked the brain wave test, there was a glimmer of something; Meiko's brain was still active, if that was true would her body still respond? For there was something more keeping her alive, the reason she had to live.

"It's impossible!" The nurse said. Flay wanted to know what they were talking about, Yzak squeezed her hand as she felt herself release the breath that she had just drawn in. Hope rose in her heart as she saw the doctor's shocked faces.

"She's with child," the doctor said to the nurse, "and though her heart's not beating there's life in her womb." Flay gasped in shock but then realized the truth of what the doctor was saying; Meiko was carrying a child and a hope for life, that child was Yaro Yamato's for it could be no others. If that were true then this child would be stronger than anyone to ever live; for the child would bear the legacy of two super seeds. Of course the child would live through everything that Meiko had experienced, for this pregnancy was different.

"There's still a chance," the nurse responded to the doctor as Meiko's brain activity increased, "motherly instinct, something inside her has to be fighting for life in all this hopelessness. She's still fighting!" It was then that suddenly Meiko's brain waves spiked and there was a glow as everything came online and her eyes opened; Meiko sat up breathing hard with her eyes glowing violently.

"MEIKO!" Flay yelled her daughters name embracing the girl as the glow left and she felt weak in her mothers arms. It was then that tears came from Meiko's eyes as her mother held her close and the doctors looked upon another miracle; the miracle of the life inside Meiko.

* * *

Luna heard monitors around her when she woke to see Shinn sitting beside her bed, he looked weary and weak which was something that she would have never expected from him. What he saw in her eyes was relief to see him alive but there was a sadness as well; the doctors had informed him she had lost a child this day, his child but he knew she had lost so much more. In his mind were the faces of Meyrin and Ceveris who had both perished in the battle along with so many others, Waltfeld, Dearka, Yaro and the list continued on. The world and the PLANTs were shocked at the events that had taken place and how ROW had shaken the world in this final act and though ROW had been defeated the cost had been very high.

"Luna," Shinn spoke taking her hand, he knew this news would be better to come now rather than later; for they were all grieving together.

"I should have told you about the baby Shinn," Tears filled her eyes as she spoke, "but I wanted to fight, I didn't realize that I would loose it over the battle." Shinn shushed her and calmed her down by stroking her head.

"I know Luna," he responded as a deep sorrow filled him, "it's alright, we'll get through it. There's something else I need to tell you now," but the words were hard to say. How was he to tell the woman who had just lost a child that her sister was dead as well, but he had to say it before someone else did. "Luna, Meyrin's gone." The words sunk into Luna's heart, that somehow she already knew there was so much dark around. Tears filled her eyes as Shinn embraced her and cried as well.

They had never predicted something like this would happen when they went in and though they laid their lives on the line willingly everyone knew there was a difference in saying you would die for something and actually dying for something. Meyrin had been in these battles for so long, it just never seemed like a possibility; the Minerva went down as well. It would take them all time to get past everything that had just taken place, the shock and terror that was now with them would not be forever but now they cried and mourned the losses they all had.

* * *

"Redemption and ORB searched the entire battlefield multiple times for wounded soldiers," Athrun said to the nation before him, "but of all those we've rescued not one is Yaro and though the remains of the dreamer have been found there was no sign of life around them. We must conclude then that Yaro Yamato is indeed lost." He hated giving this address to the military and to those that he knew as family and friends. He was back in ORB; he was addressing the nation about the events that had taken place in space with the state officials and ambassadors from foreign countries were there. The burials of the dead were scheduled for after his speech as he with a heavy heart continued. "He was one among many who bravely went into the fray of death in honor and valor to keep the freedom of the world safe. These brave souls are those who we are here to commemorate today. We have made a great victory but to those who lost love ones this will feel like a defeat. Even in the midst of that do not loose hope for the world that we live in is changing for the better as every nation is gathering together, side by side, to make a better future where we all work toward peace."

"Though we suffered through the long harsh war, you must all see that now it is won," tears sprung to Cagalli's eyes as she listened to him speak with strength. "I ask you all today to in the face of suffering to remember the reason why we fought and the truth that we have gained all we worked for." He concluded his speech with commemorations to make of the fallen officers and then he stepped down to an applause from his nation and he took his place beside Cagalli as the nation watched their dead being lowered into the ground, countless graves across the field in ORB.

"They will never forget this battle," Cagalli said to Athrun in the midst of the solemnity in the air, "the cost was much to high but the outcome, I wonder what exactly it will be in the end. The nations are gathering yes but there is still the problem of the territory that was previously held by ROW. It's far from over if you ask me Athrun, we've only begun." AThrun nodded at her words and looked to see Jeffery who was standing on the other side of her, his young son who was not a part of the fighting. He wondered if the future would bring other battles that could place more danger on the next generation and he realized that the last battle had belonged to the next generation and thus the weight of the world was on their shoulders to change everything. He wondered where the future would take them all.

"One thing's for certain," Athrun spoke as he noticed the sun would be setting soon, "the next battle will not be ours. Something tells me haven't seen the last of the Phoenix's rash interventions."

* * *

three hours later

* * *

Wind blew around her, it had traveled from somewhere across the water that she could hear in the distance on this Island of ORB. Before her was the past and out there in the sunset was a future that was completely uncertain for now it seemed that her past would be forever marred by the unforeseen things that fell behind her. For the past was marred with so much loss. Tears rolled silently down her face, she was weak in so many ways and they had begged her not to come out here and even now they were watching over her; her father and brother, Kira and Kiran along with Trey, Lacus and her mother Flay. They would surely want to be there for her but they didn't see the only future she had was one on her own, for it was Yaro's grave that was before her. He had given her no choice but to go on as he died for her future but not as Uzumi had, for Yaro's heart was still hurting and his life was scared by anger and hatred.

This wasn't the end, she couldn't have it be the end. She lingered a moment longer knowing that she would have to put it behind her but she didn't want to. She had never loved anyone as she had loved Yaro before in her life and she knew she would never love anyone that way again but he was really gone, not even there with her as Uzumi was. Gone forever. More tears, more heartache as she couldn't even fathom a tomorrow. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see the face of her father there understanding her pain for he had raised Yaro. She turned to him and he wrapped his arms around her as sobs rocked her body. She was going father and farther down in the pain and hurt, the suffering of everything. This was the end of everything, the war was over but the cost was too high. Everyone there held their hands in a final salute to Yaro's grave, for he had died with honor.

But had he really? For Meiko knew his anger and saw his hatred, she knew the darkness that controlled his final moments and she hated herself for allowing him to go farther. Now she would never know what could have been, the future that she had dreamed of with him was gone.

"You're alright," Kira whispered to her, "it's alright Meiko." He hated seeing his daughter go through this, he knew the pain he felt when he had thought he lost Flay and that was bad enough, Meiko had lost the person she had loved with her entire heart and in that she had lost a part of herself. He wasn't going to let this beat her and when he let go of her there were no tears left for her to shed and all emotion was gone from her, her eyes had gone cold and she turned toward the sunset walking past Yaro's grave and toward the cliffs in the distance where they had first met.

Memories filled her head and the sights reminded her of the past, the days that they had spent together in ORB. The good and the bad, for so many things had taken place and she had spent part of it in ROW, everything she could not fathom. Not even Uzumi's presence always with her could take everything away.

For he had pointed a gun at her when she was his enemy but he couldn't pull the trigger because beneath his anger he saw through her and though he didn't admit it to himself then he had not had it in him to ever hurt her because he did love her. She was such a mess then, so much of her was wrong and he tried to care but couldn't. Even in the end he took her back after she had hurt him so much. Tears rolled down again as she wrapped her arms around herself and the sunset disappeared as rain began to fall.

For now she would never forget anything. It didn't even make sense to forget all the good times, how it felt to have his arms around her and every kiss they had shared. The blind belief that they had built together, when they believed together that they would somehow make it out. He had turned everything around, he had taken away her heart in the process.

Now she was alone, she would never really find the meaning of it all, perhaps it had no meaning; just another random event. She had to get past needing him, but not yet, now she cried, now she hurt, now she held onto everything and she didn't want to give it up. Time would probably be her ally in healing but for now she believed that it would never heal. She wold forever bear the mark of hurt from his hands, the way he had touched her so sweetly. She ran her hand through her hair trying to bear the ability to turn back to those who now worried about her. Her body felt hollow inside and her heart felt like it no longer existed but the world was still spinning beneath her feet and begging her to leave it behind her, begging her to go forward as she cried out screaming Yaro's name to the unforgiving skies and the hollowness inside her.

"YARO!" she cried out, "WHY! WHY DID YOU GO! DAMN IT YARO! YOU CAN"T BE GONE! WHY! PLEASE TELL ME WHY!" She felt madness trying to take her as she collapsed to the ground letting grief completely overcome her, ignoring the sounds of those who were running toward her as she felt as though she was completely alone for a this moment when a bright light surrounded her as consciousness left her her mind was floating in a dangerous place, her broken heart was hurting in a dangerous way as she didn't want to be here once again, she had been brought here once again by the one person who would try so hard to convince her everything was going to be alright, but how could it ever be alright again. She was more scared than ever before in her life, so weak and overcome by everything and she didn't know how to get past it. Everything she was feeling defied reason and logic, everything she had always feared had come to pass.

_"NO!" Uzumi's voice as he knelt beside her putting his arms around her as she shook from everything. She looked around and this dream world was no longer beautiful but ragged and darkened, Uzumi was no longer the same as before but there was hurt in him as well. "No more!" he spoke firmly, "No more! I promised I'd be here, I promised you I'd protect you and I can't do that if you won't let me Meiko. I know your world is completely shattered, your heart is crashed and destroyed and Yaro has been torn from you but you can't be beat by this. You're stronger than that!" _

_"I'm not strong," Meiko whispered barely as her voice was breaking, she felt as though she was dying, she should have died. She hated being here. "I still wonder why haven't I died, I'm still breathing, but why? He's gone, Yaro's gone and he's never coming back. I don't want to live in a world without him, I can't do this."_

_"But you have to," Uzumi responded, "it's what he wanted, it's why he held you back, so he could go in alone. Meiko he loved you so much he wanted you to live in peace, and though it was his own anger that drove him to it, it was also love for you that gave him the determination to make sure that through everything you would be alright. Now the world is almost restored but it's up to you to finish what he started. You still have a purpose, a meaning for existence." She felt the comfort with Uzumi there and she heard the words breaking through her sorrow and going into the recesses of her heart. _

_"My mind is gone and I'm drowning in my tears," she spoke, "this time it's different. I've never felt like this before, you can't believe I can get past this, cause I can't see a way out." Uzumi looked into her eyes and she saw hope within his._

_"No Meiko," he shook his head, "you will do more than get past this. You will get your heart back and everything you believe in. I know you. You won't let this beat you, you'll come back again stronger than ever before, different than ever before. All you have to do is look within yourself, really look at your strength for you are more than this and even without him you will still fight for truth and you will stand in your destiny." As he spoke she felt a determination rising within her, something changing and he continued, "remember Meiko there is so much more to be done, Leyas is still out there and she needs help, you're the only one who can see the rest of this thing through. Yaro made his move for peace and now you see to it that peace is what comes."_

She awakened with purpose as she saw the faces of those who were there surrounding her she sat up quickly and saw the rain had cleared and things were different now, she was still in pain but in the midst of that pain there was anger at what was still going on in the world. Peace was coming and things were arranging themselves toward a bright future but there was still a twisted darkness lingering in the world.

"Meiko!" her mothers voice surrounded by questions about whether she was alright. She stood up to them and they were all looking at the mixed emotions that surrounded her. She stared straight ahead as she realized the task that was before her; Uzumi was right she would have to come back harder and stronger than ever before. She still had many purposes, her unborn child and her family. Forgetting those things would leave her with nothing but a hollow heart. She realized now that she started something when she attacked Cerrian's warship and since Leyas was in the middle of everything it was up to her to end it.

She looked at the faces of those around her, the people that she cared about more than anything. They would all fight alongside her and with her and they all shared in her pain at this loss for they had all lost him as well. She looked down again breathing in the strength that she needed.

"It's hard," Meiko said, "but I'm not going to loose." She turned to Trey, "and we have a job to do." She turned back to Kira and Lacus, "my sister is in danger and I will save her, I will search high and low, far and wide until I find her. I promise you I will not give up until this world is saved, for whatever threat lingers I will be there." She then turned to them all it was fast that so many things had risen within her as a result of Uzumi, she then turned away walking back up the hill back toward the ships and they all followed her. She wiped the tears from her eyes and glanced back at Yaro's grave once more, she realized now he didn't want her to be held back and that his grave should push her forward now. She vowed there and then two things, one that she would never allow herself to cry again and two that she would never fight in a mobile suit again. For now on she pressed toward peace and a future where mobile suits would no longer be needed in the world.

She vowed these things not knowing what was coming. There was so much she didn't realize they would have to face before the end would come. Kira walked behind her and he saw strength return to her with each step, he wondered about his daughter; for he felt as though this was the beginning of something different.

No matter what the future held they would all face it together, for this is why they fought, out of the love that bound them together.

For Meiko had found her redemption and come into a family whose ideals were as immortal as the sun, and those ideals were now hers. She was different now and though a part of her would never get over Yaro she was not alone, and her task was not complete. Until then they would be separated by the veils of the world and in the end she would to leave the world in death but her soul was immortal as was his and she knew their hearts would pull them together once again. But for now she lived on and she would not let anyone stop her from being all that she could be and from ending the darkness in the world. For peace would come and it would be immortal.

* * *

_And I've lost who I am, and I can't understand why my heart is so broken rejecting your love without, love gone wrong, lifeless words, carry on. But I know, all I know is that the ends beginning, who I am from the start, take me home to my heart, let me go and I will run, I will not be silent, all this time, spent in vain, wasted years, wasted gain, All is lost hope remains, and this wars not over, theres a light, theres the sun, taking all the shattered ones to the place we belong and his love will conquer._

A gasp of sharp pain, a future uncertain. A cry in the darkness and death all around.

_It would never be over. It would never be over. It was forever immortal. It was a heart beat an ideal, a love. It was never over. How could anyone believe it was over? Why was it over?_

_Peace would come. Immortal Peace had to come._

_It's not over._

_Immortal_

* * *

**So that's the official end of Gundam Seed Redemption. It's been a wild ride over I think three years of work and I've finally come to the final moments. This chapter was brief but it was a wrap up chapter. So drumroll now I will be posting a prequel for Immortal right after this!**

**Thank you all to you loyal readers and loyal reviewers. Survivor18, CaptFreedom, SamuraiGundam, Fenikkusumaru, Byron Lancaster, and Casey Rising have all been amazing and when I was loosing hope I could always count on a review from one of them that would drive me forward. Thanks to all those who reviewed along the way as well, I might be forgetting some just because I haven't seen reviews from you in awhile but I cherished every comment. **

**I want to encourage you all that though this ending was kinda rushed and bleak there is so much more to come that I hope I haven't totally blown or given away yet. I've revamped Gundam Seed Immortal in the past months to make it as intense as I could. There are a lot of awesome twists, turns and some very tragic moments. So get ready cause I will start it soon. Be on the lookout! :D**

**And let me know what you think about this ending! REVEIW! **  
**-WinterChill**


	53. Gundam Seed Immortal Prequel

**Phase 00: Tabrett  
**

* * *

2 years later

* * *

Rain was pouring down over her head as she stumbled through the burning city streets. She was half mad at the events that had just occurred, a government intervention once again on the district; the poor downtrodden city of Iseran within the heart of what the UCN the X territory. Sure ROW had dominated this area for years but since that fateful battle two years before the city had been recovering peacefully until the UCN decided that it was a terrorist harbor within X. Sometimes she wondered what it was they were doing up there on the moon, plotting the imminent demise of the people who dwelt within X or really searching for a way to clear the corruption within the territory.

But on this night she didn't want to think anymore about it, she just needed a drink. She had found her destination, even with all the unrest around the bar was always open on this street. She stumbled in and they knew her as a regular costumer. She was served the moment she sat down with her usual, it was the strongest she could get but it could not even make her begin to forget her long life. She looked down at the gloves on her hands and smiled as she took the drink, letting the bitter taste wash through her. There was so much noise around, people freaked out about the intervention and the 'terrorists,' so much noise that she could barely hear herself think. She bowed her head for a second and her short dark bob fell into her face so she shook her head to brush it back. It seemed someone agreed with her about the noise because it stopped but she didn't turn around to observe the events. She heard the clicking of heavy heeled boots on the floor walking toward the counter and the obvious sound of weapons hitting a person's body as they moved. The intruder stopped behind her and let out a slight laugh.

"The great Tabrett Myra now drowning her sorrows away, I always expected more from you but then again I was a naive child at the time," the voice said causing Tabrett to sit up in her seat. She took another drink before turning around to take in the person who had entered the building and she met a pair of violet eyes and red hair that was shorter than her last encounter with the girl ten years before but she would never forget that face or that voice.

"Meiko Virea," Tabrett said addressing the woman who was before her. Tabrett had been right about the weapons, Meiko was decked out in a black suit with more than one option for weaponry, whatever reason Meiko was here it was not a social call and she had been looking for Tabrett. "What brings you all the way out here? I haven't seen you since I abandoned ROW and that was ten years ago. Surely your not here for revenge? I heard you got plenty of that in space two years ago." Meiko's eyes darkened at Tabrett's words but she had a purpose to be here, even though her query seemed hopeless. Trey stood behind her off a little ways keeping track of those entering and leaving, he did not approve of this mission but Meiko was in charge of everything now and he obeyed her orders without question.

"No Tabrett," Meiko responded and Tabrett saw her face soften slightly but still maintain an edge, "I never blamed you for what you did, in fact you inspired me to try myself and I eventually did escape ROW but that matters not now that they are long gone." Tabrett scoffed at that statement.

"Tell that to the government," Tabrett bitterly replied, "anyone involved whether willingly or unwillingly will always be on their radar it seems."

"I can get you off it," Meiko countered causing Tabrett to really wonder what this girl was up to. Tabrett was a lowlife as Meiko would call it and she was very heavily involved in the criminal side of the world; she knew things that most people didn't and she knew who Meiko had become to the world and how it was something truly great. Then again Tabrett always knew the girl had it in her to go far.

"How could you do that?" Tabrett asked, "I doubt even your step mother could pull the strings I need to get off their radar, I'm not worth your time Virea." Meiko shook her head as she clearly did not agree.

"You are of valuable importance to me," Meiko began now leading into the reason she came, "I know your heart Tabrett and though the years have hardened you they haven't changed your desires for freedom and peace. This world has become a very different place than we believed it would be as children and though we have been promised peace as witnessed today by the people of this city we are far from the end of all this. There is a war being fought out of the sight of the world and I know you of all people understand that. I also know you want to change it but feel powerless to do so." Meiko was hitting all Tabretts strings and she knew it, just a little more, "I am not here to force you into anything, I just wonder if you have the guts to try and stand again. I've been wondering for awhile if you had what it takes to get back up into the fight and that is why I'm here. I've been working underground for a little over a year now and when I remembered you I realized you were a valuable asset, whether or not you see it I will always believe it."

"You've got me," Tabrett responded waving away the continued speech, she had been longing for a real chance to get back in the game and here the Phoenix was giving her that chance. She would be a fool not to take it. "What is it you're up to Virea? I can tell it's something good." Meiko the flipped a coin into the air and Tabrett caught it; on one side was the number 4 and the other side was a firebird which was unmistakably the Phoenix.

"The Phoenix squad is happy to have you aboard," Meiko said to her, "further information will be relayed in base. What you need to know now is that we're not fighting any power you have encountered before. Are you up to fighting against the elusive Gryser Cerrian?" Tabrett's eyes widened as she realized, the rumors were true. Cerrian was real and if Meiko was after his blood he was the one behind everything, including the disappearance of Leyas Yamato. Tabrett suddenly realized that her agreement was setting her up for one wild ride.

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**So that's the prequel, let me know what you think and what you're looking forward to! Drive me to make this upcoming story epic! REVIEW!  
**

**WinterChill**


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